D0: The Demonic Dozen
by the21stMartian
Summary: What happened before Tai and his crew were sucked into the Digital World? The story of the mysterious original Digidestined is now told! Part three of the D0: Trilogy
1. Terror of the Titan part 1

21: Hello, and welcome to the third and final part of my D0 Trilogy, namely D0: The Demonic Dozen. For those who are just coming please read D0: The Satanmon Saga, and D0: The Terrible Three before reading this.

Sponsor: What took you so long? You were supposed to update a week and a day ago!

21: Well, I left you all in a deep suspense, and I didn't want to break it so quickly...

Sponsor: moron, I don't know why I put up with you!

21: ...I also broke my computer, so I didn't have access to one for the updating procedure (so even though I have flash and J-drives for backing up my files, I still needed a computer.) Anyways, it came back just in time for Thanksgiving, so here's the update.

Sponsor: unacceptable...

21: I don't think you have the right to tell me what's acceptable around here or not.

Sponsor: I'm your sponsor!!! What do you think I'm supposed to do if not tell you what is and isn't acceptable?!?!

21: ...ummmmmmm.....give the disclaimer and get poked?

Sponsor: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

21: Just give the disclaimer already, people are getting bored by your antics.

Sponsor: Yes sir. The21stMartian doesn't own Digimon, he only owns the characters he's invented and maybe a pencil, so no suing!

21: excellent. now I shall poke you (begins poking a grumbling sponsor).

Sponsor: STOP THAT!!!!!!!!!

21 (continuing to poke the sponsor): Now, without further ado, I hereby present the next installment of my ongoing D0 Trilogy, and the first ever episode of the third arc of said trilogy D0: The Demonic Dozen, namely...

Episode 50: Terror of the Titan Part 1: Dilemma of the Deity

(Rachel): So George was continuing to fight Humongousmon, but now he was utilizing the abilities of both Falconmon and IceAngemon. His plan was to weaken Humongousmon's armor and then move in for the kill. Although it was difficult, George eventually succeeded and we thought the battle was over. As we were leaving, the mountaintop began to glow, and we turned around, and let me tell you, we are in trouble now.

"Humongousmon Digivolve to—Titanmon!!!!!!!"

The smoke condensed into a solid shape that towered above the Digidestined floating in the air like a horrible nightmare. Titanmon was around twice as big as Humongousmon, but was no longer robotic. The armor had been replaced by scaly pale-green skin, and the metallic horns disappeared. Instead, Titanmon's arms became extremely muscular, as he rose majestically up from the mountaintop, grinning an evil grin with his horribly fanged mouth.

Each fang was about as long as one of the Digidestined's arms, and looked like it could cut through even the toughest ChromeDigizoid armor.

There were no legs to speak of, instead, Titanmon had a dragon-like tail that ended in a spiked club. Titanmon's head remained humanoid, as he sprouted two green scaly wings of a similar design to a pterodactyl's wings.

"I am Titanmon, the death-angel digimon, my Tempest of the Titans attack will utterly decimate my enemies," said the titanic being, as the smoke finally finished clearing.

"I've never heard of a death-angel digimon before," exclaimed Ferarimon nervously.

George boldly stood up to fight him despite his exhaustion, and then promptly fell over. Dan and Jimmy helped him back to his feet.

"I'm going to need help on this one, Humongousmon was hard enough, but Titanmon will be much harder. I am sensing power levels that are off the charts emanating from him, and I have still not recovered from my bout with Humongousmon. I'm not sure if we can win, but at the very least we can try. Who's with me?" exclaimed the leader.

The digimon immediately warp digivolved to their mega levels in response, and the wounded George took to the skies once more.

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The great expanse that is the sanctuary of the Digital Sovereigns. For eons this region has been a stable environment and meeting place of the sovereigns during situations of crisis, and this was certainly a crisis. The clouds overhead turned black and lightning flashed across the area, temporarily illuminating the four gigantic silhouettes lingering within the temple's entryway. The temple itself was almost as remarkable as the four beings it was built for. Built by the first civilization of digimon, this temple was commissioned by the leaders to serve the four Digital Deities, and it was used by the Sovereigns as a meeting place in a long forgotten city of ruins on an island unknown to the rest of the digital world. This island was positioned such that storms would circumvent it…usually.

Today however, the island was hit with a massive electrical storm.

"I don't like this at all," remarked Azulongmon staring out the stain glass window as another lightning bolt flashed across the sky.

"You are overreacting my friend," remarked Ebonwomon.

The rookie, Zhuqiaomon cleared his throat. "I think we should combine our powers with those of the Digidestined and wipe out Titanmon once and for all!"

Griffinmon sighed, Falconmon's successor still had a lot to learn. "We cannot interfere with the course of development," he said sagely. Of the four, he was the oldest, and as such was the only one to have seen the construction of the Digital Temple.

"I still fail to see why humans are needed to bring balance to a world we are supposed to be able to protect," countered Zhuqiaomon.

"The Digidestined were chosen to protect this world because we are unable to do so," said Griffinmon calmly "that is all we need to know", but the fiery tempered phoenix was not about to concede.

"My mentor DIED because of that human. I have a right to know WHY," he snapped.

Ebonwomon's snakelike head snorted. "And you think you can get all the answers by fighting Titanmon do you?"

Azulongmon looked at Griffinmon. Surely he couldn't possibly approve of such nonsense…right?

Griffinmon straightened himself to full height, towering over the rookie sovereign. "Is that really what you want?" he inquired curtly. The phoenix nodded meekly. Griffinmon sighed, "alright, you have my permission, but remember Titanmon is your enemy, not the humans."

Zhuqiaomon nodded quickly and flew from the sanctuary across the sky as lightning continued to streak across the black clouds. Griffinmon sighed as he watched the rookie's retreating form get smaller and smaller.

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George and the five megas charged Titanmon firing off their best attacks along the way. The colossal digimon just stood perfectly still as each attack bounced off his massive form, not even leaving a single scratch.

"Damn it!" thought George, "if only I wasn't so tired! I could summon more of my power."

The goggled teen flew in for a close range shot, but Titanmon intervened in the form of an arm crashing into the unsuspecting warrior knocking him clear across the horizon. He landed ten miles from the mountain, the impact causing a mini earthquake. George didn't get up. As soon as the shaking stopped, the other Digidestined ran to the crater and looked inside. The crater was about 500 feet deep, and at the bottom lying in a pool of his own blood was the motionless figure of George.

After pulling him out of the crater, the Digidestined set George down on a flattened rock. Hannah began to examine his wounds. The main problem was a wound to the head, which was the one that was bleeding the most. She cleaned it off and bandaged it using a piece of his sleeve. She then moved on to the various lacerations across his torso, arms, and legs. Cleaning each off and bandaging the few that were bleeding. She sighed, all in all George was a lot better than he looked.

She turned and looked at the faces of her concerned comrades.

"He'll be okay," Hannah remarked, "He's mostly just exhausted. His body has shut itself down for rest and repairs."

"Well, what're we going to do now?" demanded Dan, "He's our best hope for destroying that monstrosity!"

"We'll have to wait until he wakes up, in the meantime all we can do is wait…and hope our Digimon can hold him off for long enough."

The Digidestined turned to look at the mountaintop where Titanmon was thoroughly trouncing their Digimon.

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Azulongmon stared at the point where the rookie Sovereign's form was last visible in disbelief. He looked over at Griffinmon, a questioning tone in his eyes.

Griffinmon smiled, "You want to know why I let him go."

Azulongmon nodded, and Ebonwomon immediately turned both of his heads towards the ancient Sovereign.

"He must learn that violence and action will not solve all problems, neither will it provide solutions to his own personal issues, and the only way he will learn is by failing."

"Is that not a wee bit harsh?" inquired Ebonwomon.

"There is no other way…he is too stubborn. I just hope he knows who his real enemies are," explained the digital sage.

-------------

Zhuqiaomon flew rapidly toward Driver to find the answers he had been seeking. In his eyes burn flames of rage and determination.

"That human has meddled in the affairs of the Digital World for the last time!"

Narrator: Will George recover in time to defeat Titanmon, and what exactly is Zhuqiaomon up to? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters.

21: Well, that's a nice way to start things off wouldn't you say?

The Sponsor is out cold from being poked too ferociously.

21: huh...go figure. I think I'll leave him here until the next update. See y'all in around a week!

21 leaves the unconscious Sponsor lying on the ground as he exits the room


	2. Terror of the Titan part 2

21: ...yeah I'm sorry this took so long. College finals are more difficult than I expected, and I went on vacation almost as soon as winter break started...

Sponsor: That's no excuse for neglecting your duties!

21: Yeah well, as semi-compensation I'm doing a double update this week...I know I've missed a lot more weeks than that, but I haven't really had time to write while I've been away.

Sponsor: It'll do I suppose...The21stMartian doesn't own Digimon.

21: Now, I hereby present the next two installments of my ongoing saga, namely...

Episode 51: Terror of the Titan part 2: The Arrival of the Sovereigns

(Rachel): We thought we had defeated Humongousmon, but he somehow managed to digivolve into Titanmon. George was still exhausted from his battle, and was blasted into unconsciousness by the titanic behemoth. We now have to sit back and hope our digimon can hold off Titanmon until George reawakens…it had better be quick though because they can't take much more trouncing.

The four conscious Digidestined winced as Titanmon threw CyborgDragonmon to the ground. The mighty digimon groaned in pain. This had been going on for hours. At one point, George had started to thrash and mumble in his sleep. He had startled the Digidestined, but they realized he was just restless. Hannah gazed at their fallen comrade anxiously, watching him twitch and listening to the whispers trying to understand what was terrifying him.

She sighed and shook her head sadly, "Even when he's asleep he cannot escape his fears."

-------------

Zhuqiaomon quickened his pace as Driver drew ever nearer. A grim look of determination was etched across his face. He was going to get his answers no matter what. Griffinmon was an old doddering fool. The Sovereigns were the protectors of the Digital World, not humans.

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The minutes ticked by slowly, George continued muttering incoherently. Titanmon was juggling the five mega digimon around like they were dolls. Suddenly, a massive barrage of flaming meteors came out of nowhere and blasted Titanmon backwards. The humans and digimon looked up to the sky for the source of the meteors just in time to see Zhuqiaomon streak across the sky and turn around for another pass. This time though, Titanmon was ready. He dropped the other digimon and raised his massive arms above his head.

"Tempest of the Titans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The sky blackened and lighting flashed across the horizon. Whirlwinds began to form and became tornados which struck the Sovereign as he flew in for a second offensive maneuver. He never had a chance. Zhuqiaomon crashed into the ground near the Digidestined causing another mini-earthquake. Titanmon pinned him down by hurling a barrage of boulders on top of him.

Just like that, Zhuqiaomon was defeated in one move.

-------------

A long silence had filled the Sovereign's temple. Griffinmon sat meditating as Azulongmon and Ebonwomon nervously watched out the stain glass windows for any sign of their hotheaded comrade. Suddenly, Griffinmon stood up, causing the other two to flinch.

"It's time to go," said the elder Sovereign, "our friend appears to have bitten off more than he could chew."

The three Sovereigns hastened towards Driver where the future of the Digital World was being decided.

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Zhuqiaomon looked up from under the makeshift tomb. Not far from him the comatose George laid twitching and mumbling. In a moment of clarity the Sovereign realized that his enemy never was the Digidestined. He was not so different from them, and their leader was only a mortal, and despite his massive power capacity he still hadn't mastered enough. He was in desperate need of training…"and so am I," thought Zhuqiaomon, "I have been such a fool."

With the last vestiges of his strength Zhuqiaomon pushed the boulders off and crawled over to where George was lying.

"Rest easy my friend, this battle is far from over." The rookie sovereign sent a spark at George's head. As soon as it connected, George's body relaxed and the mumbling stopped. The goggled teen was now relaxed, but he still continued to sleep on.

Zhuqiaomon looked at him for a moment longer before collapsing as well. Both were down for the count.

-------------

Titanmon was confused.

"How can the game be over already?" he thought, "they were supposed to challenge me. I was promised a battle I wouldn't forget, but this is boring. Should I destroy them or should I let them wake up so I can trounce them again? What will I do after I defeat them? Is that my only purpose? If not, why do I exist?"

The massive digimon was having an identity crisis. It gave the five megas a chance to regain consciousness. The five of them charged at him launching their best attacks along the way.

"Raging Lightning!!!!!!" shouted MetalElectromon.

"Sonic Winds!!!!!!!" exclaimed GigaPterodactylmon.

"Techno Canon!!!!!!" screamed MetalCybressmon.

"Ice Storm!!!!!" declared SaberGrandmon.

"Nova Barrage!!!!!" roared CyborgDragonmon.

The five attacks spiraled towards the titanic digimon combining into one massive ball of energy. The attack slammed into the confused Titanmon, snapping him out of his thoughts. There was work to be done.

"I will destroy them now, and worry about the results afterward," he thought savagely.

-------------

The four remaining Digidestined watched in horror as Titanmon blasted their digimon around like ragdolls, but playtime was over. Titanmon slashed GigaPterodactylmon piercing her skin and causing her to dedigivolve into a weak DemiLizardmon. Next, he fired a ball of energy which smashed into SaberGrandmon. A cracking noise was heard, as SaberGrandmon dedigivolved into Klingmon. Next, MetalElectromon and MetalCybressmon were snatched out of the air. Titanmon stuffed the two digimon into his mouth and bit down. The razor sharp fangs sliced through their armor as though it were tissue paper. Titanmon spat out a soggy Pipmon and Frapmon.

All four in-training digimon were out cold and bleeding badly.

CyborgDragonmon wisely chose to keep his distance, but Titanmon started chasing him around the mountain. CyborgDragonmon barely managed to stay out of the gigantic digimon's reach.

"What can we do?" asked a shocked Rachel.

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do but wait," said Dan putting aside his customary hotheadedness in light of the seriousness of the situation.

"We're doomed," whined Jimmy, "This is the end. It was nice knowing you."

"We're not doomed Jimmy," said Hannah reassuringly, "We'll find a way out of this."

"But Titanmon is way too powerful," reminded the whiny teen, "he subdued all of our digimon, not to mention George and that other Digimon. All we have left is CyborgDragonmon, and he's on the run, and we should be helping him."

"Should be, but we won't," interjected Dan, "CyborgDragonmon knows he cannot defeat Titanmon, but he is trying to buy us some time so George can recover. We have to sacrifice one friend to save the world…"

George's eyes fluttered as he remained comatose.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, as a mighty being came closer. Two heads poked up from above the forest, as a gigantic turtle made itself known.

Up in the air, Azulongmon flew in with a flash of lightning, and next to him appeared a massive digimon that was part eagle, part lion.

The Sovereign Digimon had arrived.

Narrator: Will the tide turn now that the Sovereigns have arrived, or will Titanmon manage to subdue the Sovereigns and take over the Digital World? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters


	3. Terror of the Titan part 3

Episode 52: Terror of the Titan Part 3: The Power of the Sovereigns

(Dan): The battle against Titanmon was not going well. The behemoth had managed to knock out George, and thoroughly thrashed our Digimon. Suddenly, this gigantic phoenix started attacking Titanmon, but he too was defeated in one blow! Luckily, that stalled Titanmon for long enough so that our digimon could wake up. Unfortunately, Titanmon decided to stop messing around, and he nearly killed all of them…except CyborgDragonmon, but even he is on the run. Suddenly, Azulongmon appeared with two other digimon, could they be here to help us?

The Digidestined looked at the three powerful digimon assembled before them.

"It is good to see you again my friends," said Azulongmon, "I would like to introduce you to my fellow Sovereigns, Ebonwomon and Griffinmon."

The turtle and gryphon nodded respectively as they were introduced.

"Of course you've already met Zhuqiaomon," said Ebonwomon dryly.

Hannah looked confused for a moment, then a realization hit her.

"You mean…" she began.

"That is correct," said Griffinmon. He then noted the confused faces of Dan, Jimmy, and Rachel. "Zhuqiaomon is the one behind you," he said. The corners of his mouth bended upward slightly into a smile, as the other three looked behind themselves confusedly, finally focusing in on the fallen phoenix. The penny finally dropped.

"So that's who he is," remarked Dan, "I thought maybe he showed up as a coincidence, but he was a Sovereign all this time…"

Jimmy's eyes grew wide as the implications of Dan's words hit him like a piano from the sky. "Then that means that Titanmon is so powerful he knocked out a Sovereign digimon in one blow. That's it. We're doomed!!! Doomed I tell you!!"

"Calm yourself my poor misguided friend," said one of Ebonwomon's heads.

"Yeah, don't get your knickers in a knot," said the other.

"Now that we are together, our power is magnified," explained Griffinmon, "and we will use it to indirectly destroy Titanmon."

"How will you do that?" asked Dan skeptically, arching an eyebrow.

"Like this Mr. Smarty pants," said Ebonwomon.

The three Sovereigns began to glow as they emitted power. Titanmon, who had long flown off to chase CyborgDragonmon, stopped and glanced towards the light. He began to slowly fly towards it, as though in a daze. Not wanting to be forgotten, CyborgDragonmon followed.

-------------

As the three Sovereigns glowed, so too did Zhuqiaomon, George, and the bleeding digimon. The Sovereign and the Warrior woke up. George stood up and gave himself an internal systems check. He appeared to be in prime condition; the Sovereigns had healed him. He glanced at the other digimon; they had been healed too.

Zhuqiaomon flew over to his comrades and sheepishly hung his head.

"I am sorry," he said, "You were right all along Griffinmon. I still have a lot to learn."

"So do we all," said the eldest Sovereign sagely, "but for now let us not dote upon our failures, for we are needed to defend the Digital World once more."

Zhuqiaomon nodded and began to siphon off his own power, which had been rejuvenated by the other Sovereigns. George and his digivice began to glow once more (as did CyborgDragonmon, not that anyone noticed…yet).

"What are you doing?" asked George, "You have fully healed me, so there is no need to waste your power on me anymore. You will need it to fight Titanmon."

"We will not be fighting Titanmon," explained Griffinmon, "We are not usually allowed to directly interfere in the natural course of the Digital World, I made an exception for Zhuqiaomon so he could learn his lesson. Instead, we Sovereigns can indirectly influence the outcomes of major battles, by mentoring one of the sides. In this case, we are teaching you and Crocmon how to evolve beyond the mega level."

At that moment, Titanmon came into view, still entranced by the light, and with him came a glowing CyborgDragonmon.

"George," he said, "I am feeling a power beyond anything I have ever felt before. I am ready to digivolve."

The goggled teen smiled, "What's say we blast this menace once and for all?"

His Digimon nodded.

"CyborgDragonmon Giga digivolve to---MagnaDragonmon!!!!!!!!"

MagnaDragonmon was slightly bigger than CyborgDragonmon, and completely covered in golden armor or golden scales. His wings were still bat-like, but were mechanical. The crest of power was engraved in the wing armor. His left arm was completely robotic, and became slightly larger than his right one. At its tip was a massive metallic claw capable of slashing through the toughest armor. His head became completely helmeted, and grew three horns like a triceratops. Both of his legs were partially mechanical, and armor plating was dotted around his torso. His eyes glowed a deep green under his helmet. He was ready for battle.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Dan, "who is that?!"

"I am MagnaDragonmon," he said, "I will destroy my enemies with my Tri-elemental Barrage and Flaming Claw attacks."

The Sovereigns stopped glowing and retreated from Granitemon Mountain to watch the battle unfold. Titanmon had recovered from his daze and was now angrily looking at MagnaDragonmon, who was still shining brightly (his scales caught the sunlight perfectly).

"Do you honestly think you can defeat me?" asked the titanic monster, as he towered over the two combatants.

"This doesn't look good," whined Jimmy, prompting the others to shut him up.

George nodded at MagnaDragonmon, and the two of them took off going in separate directions.

"Tri-elemental Barrage!!!!!!!"

Titanmon was blasted by fire, lightning, and water. The massive being was thrown backwards at the force behind that attack. They were finally getting somewhere.

Titanmon lunged towards MagnaDragonmon, but George attacked him from behind.

"Flaming Hailstorm!!!!!!!!!!"

Titanmon was now hit by massive hailstones encased in fireballs. He recoiled and gnashed his teeth, but he refused to be taken down without a fight.

"Tempest of the Titans!!!!"

George and MagnaDragonmon were caught in the winds. MagnaDragonmon grabbed onto George to prevent him from being blown too far away, but there was nothing that could be done about the lightning, which struck them continuously. When the flashing stopped, MagnaDragonmon was sparking slightly, and George had a nice case of "socket hair".

Titanmon zeroed in on them and smashed them with his mighty fists. Surprisingly, he recoiled in pain. The two Warriors of Power were coated in sparks.

George laughed as he and MagnaDragonmon continued to absorb the power from the lightning.

-------------

Dan looked puzzled. "Hey I don't get it," he said.

"It's really quite simple," explained Hannah, "George is capable of absorbing the power from electricity because that is his crest. Take a closer look at it after the battle. The image is a lightning bolt surrounded by columns of fire, implying that physical power comes mostly from electricity, which is true. George is taking the raw physical power from that lightning bolt, and converting it into energy, which, used over time, is power (hooray for physics P = E/t)."

"Huh?"

-------------

George and MagnaDragonmon finished absorbing the lightning, and charged towards Titanmon, but the beast was far from finished.

"Seismic Crusher!!!!!!"

Titanmon flew up high and curled himself into a ball. The "ball" went into freefall above the two combatants, but it wasn't quite freefall, since Titanmon appeared to also be exerting a downward force on himself, causing him to accelerate much faster than 9.81m/s2. As a result, he came down too fast for the heroes to dodge, so they braced themselves for impact, pushing against the falling Titanmon. George's palms began to glow as he tried to create a force field to stop the behemoth. MagnaDragonmon joined in, and just before impact, they succeeded in applying an equal and opposite force, such that the three of them hung there slightly above the ground until Titanmon's propulsion wore off. At that point he uncurled himself and slashed at the dynamic tag team. MagnaDragonmon dodged expertly. George was not so lucky; Titanmon's claws ripped through his shirt and his skin, but he'd be okay, as long as this battle didn't last too much longer.

MagnaDragonmon launched several energy blasts at Titanmon, but he kept dodging them despite his massiveness.

George flew beside his partner, "we need a way to hold him steady," he said.

"I'm on it," declared the dragon digimon, "Flaming Claw!!!!!!"

MagnaDragonmon's robotic claw caught fire and shot out towards Titanmon, who expected the blow to go for his torso, instead it veered towards his tail and caught him by the club. MagnaDragonmon held on tight.

"Alright," said George, "Now lob him into the mountain."

MagnaDragonmon swung Titanmon around a few times then launched him towards the mountain. The impact was tremendous. The mountain itself began to crack. Titanmon was momentarily stunned, but that was all George and MagnaDragonmon needed.

"Flaming Hailstorm!!!!!"

"Tri-elemental Barrage!!!!!"

The tag team put everything they had into those attacks, which spiraled into Titanmon causing him to groan in pain.

"I think this is it!" exclaimed George exhausted but triumphant. Titanmon flew out.

"Is he for real?!" demanded Dan.

Titanmon flew upwards, a vacant expression in his face. Suddenly, he began to glow. When the glow subsided, he was Humongousmon once again. The mountain began to crumble. Humongousmon's eyes were no longer glowing. The mechanical behemoth landed on the ground and glanced towards the sky; then his eyes disappeared. He had shut down. The mountain fell on top of him utterly decimating the remains of his palace, but also unleashing the distortions of the broken temporal portal. The Digidestined and the Sovereigns were sucked into the broken portal, which sealed behind them.

Narrator: Will the Digidestined be able to return to the Digital World, or will they remain forever trapped? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!!!!!

21: Well, that's all for now. Hopefully, I'll have written some more episodes in time for next week...

Sponsor: You'd better, and to make sure you do, I'm going to keep a close eye on you!

21: I think not...I don't need another authoritative figure in my life.

Sponsor: but --

21: Nope, my decision is final. You'll stay here until I've finished and uploaded some new episodes!

Sponsor: What?

21: See ya!

(21 leaves the building, locking the Sponsor in a broom closet.)

Sponsor: HELP!!!!!!!

Narrator: Will The21stMartian ever update? or will the Sponsor be stuck in the broom closet for the rest of eternity? Find out next time on ---

(21 returns and tackles the narrator, dragging him out of the building)


	4. Corruption part 1

21: Well, the Digital War, Humongousmon, and Titanmon threads have been finished...so now for something completely different!

Sponsor: oh joy...what have you got in store this time?

21: A semi-silly subplot before we actually start the main plot for this arc of the trilogy.

Sponsor: Which means?

21: You'll see :)

Sponsor: *sigh* Great...The21stMartian does not own Digimon, but he does own the characters he's invented. No suing is permitted!

21: Excellent. And now, without further ado, I present the next installment of my ongoing D0 Trilogy, namely...

Episode 53: Corruption Part 1: The Devil in Limbo

(George): The Digital Sovereigns showed up to aid in our fight against Titanmon, and the used their power to teach CyborgDragonmon to digivolve to a higher level. Together the newly digivolved MagnaDragonmon and I drained Titanmon's energy. He reverted back into Humongousmon and shut down. As the battle took its toll on the landscape Mt. Granitemon began to crumble. The rubble covered Humongousmon's massive form, but it also unleashed some kind of vortex which sucked us and the Sovereigns into another dimension. I hope we can escape.

The Digidestined and the digimon began to feel nauseous as the vortex spun them around.

"I didn't realize the time-space continuum had so many potholes," whined Jimmy.

As the journey continued, George thought he saw something moving, reaching out to grab them, but the figure vanished as quickly as it came, leaving the goggled teen blinking.

Suddenly (and with a lot of undue turbulence), the travelers were forcefully disembarked from their journey.

As the tunnel sealed behind them, the humans and digimon began to look at their surroundings.

Nothing made any sense. The trees were floating mid-air, but the sky was below them. They were sitting on one of many boulders that appeared to be made out of liquid, and were also levitated by some unseen force. Many random objects were levitating in the open space above them. Hannah spotted an alarm clock that kept flashing "Q:00" over and over again. Apparently, she figured, time was irrelevant here. Dan noticed a comic book and immediately floated over to investigate. Jimmy found a TV and decided to see what channels they had here.

Rachel saw a field of flowers growing on one of the rocks and went off to frolic in them. Their respective digimon tagged along curiously.

George spotted something that looked like a digivice, but when he tried to float towards it he fell right back onto the liquid boulder. He landed with a thud.

"Most perplexing," he muttered, "I appear to have lost my ability to fly, while the others have gained it."

Griffinmon, Azulongmon, and Zhuqiaomon found themselves unable to fly as well, while Ebonwomon began to float upwards.

"Well, it would appear as though we've found ourselves in a wee bit of a snit now wouldn't it?" he said a greenish pallor spreading across his two faces, "us tortoises were not meant to fly."

George sat down and began to think. There wasn't much else he could do. Eventually, he stood up, held out his palms and concentrated. Nothing happened. A vein pulsed in the teen's head as he desperately tried to accomplish some unknown goal. From his groans and muttering it was clear he was unsuccessful. By now the others had began to notice his strange antics.

"Dude," laughed Dan, "what the heck are you doing?"

"I am trying to summon an energy blast," replied George between clenched teeth.

"And why would you want to do that," inquired Hannah, "there's no one to fight."

The Sovereigns understood. They each tried unsuccessfully to summon their chi blasts, but their auras had faded. The only "power" they had between the five of them was Ebonwomon's unnatural ability to fly, and that just made him sick.

Griffinmon sighed, "Apparently in this universe we are powerless, and thus useless in a battle. The others however may surprise us."

Zhuqiaomon was not happy. In fact, he was rather pissed off. "What happened to my powers?!" demanded the rookie Sovereign.

"Does Griffinmon have to spell everything out for you lad?" inquired Ebonwomon, "our powers are gone, but the others might have absorbed them."

Hearing that, Dan and Jimmy glanced at each other; their smiles spread across their faces. It was time for mischief.

They both began to charge up energy blasts in their palms and launched them at the infinity of the sky below them.

"Sweet," said Dan in awe as he looked at his palms in disbelief.

Time passed slowly for George and the Sovereigns as they sat around on the liquid boulder trying to figure out how to escape this dreadful universe…at least they perceived it as passing slowly. The others were busy playing with their newfound powers or reading comic books (and sometimes both at the same time.) Rachel had not returned from frolicking in the flowers yet.

Out of the blue a bomb came whizzing past them. It was a funny looking bomb, but a bomb nonetheless. It was pink and had two little angel wings. It exploded amidst the now powerless Sovereigns and George, who were immediately blasted into a glass cage. The invisible door swung shut behind them leaving them trapped and wondering what exactly had hit them.

They didn't have to ponder long because soon a small black ping-pong ball with black leatherish wings showed up singing a merry tune and swinging a spear around. The others couldn't help but notice.

"Hey Piximon!" said Dan excitedly, "Good to see you!"

"…Would you mind explaining what's with the disguise?" asked Jimmy.

"And telling us how you got here," added Hannah.

"I am here to train you!" declared the digimon, swinging his spear around maniacally, "yup yup!"

From behind the soundproof glass George looked closely at the little black fur ball.

"That's not Piximon," he concluded.

"You are correct," said Griffinmon.

"A brilliant deduction," said Zhuqiaomon sarcastically. (Being powerless was really getting to him.)

The eldest Sovereign cleared his throat. "That is the sinister DeviPiximon, he is the negative counterpart to our universe's Piximon, but how he got here is anybody's guess."

"What do you think he wants?" asked George.

"My guess is he wants to train the others with their newfound and ill begotten powers," replied Ebonwomon, "They are new at this superpower stuff and are easily corruptible."

"But surely they will see that he isn't the real Piximon," stammered the goggled teen incredulously.

"Afraid not," said Azulongmon pointing to where DeviPiximon was instructing the others on the "proper" ways to utilize their powers.

George groaned loudly.

-------------

Outside the cage things were proceeding better than planned.

"This is easier than I anticipated," DeviPiximon thought and chuckled under his breath as Dan tried to balance a spiked mop on his chin while cleaning DeviPiximon's spear.

For what seemed like months the Digidestined scrubbed, cleaned, and polished everything in sight with evil-looking cleaning supplies. (Jimmy nearly got decapitated by a wicked toothbrush with a retractable sword and battle axe.)

"Time for phase two it is," thought DeviPiximon, "yup yup!"

The evil little fur ball waddled over to Dan.

"You have come very far in such a short time Dan, yup yup! Most proud of you I am," said he.

"Thanks," replied the hotheaded teen nonchalantly.

"You have progressed faster than my previous pupil, George Helltower. I believe that you could defeat him in battle if you tried," suggested the fur ball.

"Why would I want to do that?" asked Dan, "He's my friend."

"Is he?" inquired DeviPiximon deviously, "or is he blocking you from achieving your potential?"

"But," began Dan.

"Think about it," continued the black ping pong ball, "Why did he get the Crest of Power and you didn't? What does he have that you don't? Who does everyone call when they're in trouble, and how come he gets to fly in and save the day? Why couldn't that be you?"

"Yeah!" said the hotheaded teen, "and why does he always get the last slice of pizza?!?!?!?!?!"

At this point, unknown to any party, DeviPiximon destroyed the glass barrier separating George and the Sovereigns from the rest of the Digidestined. The enraged Dan charged towards the goggled teen, who had been unable to hear anything outside of the barrier.

"You think it's funny to keep me from achieving my potential?! Well now I'm in control of my own destiny," declared the hotheaded teen energy blasts charging up in both his fists. "Piximon taught me how to utilize my powers; he appreciates what I can become."

"I'm not sure what he told you," replied George trying to remain calm, "but you should know that that's not Piximon. It's his alternate universal counterpart DeviPiximon. He's trying to trick you into tearing our team apart!"

His response was a spit in the face after which Dan turned to DeviPiximon and said, "You are right! He is trying to deceive me! I must destroy him or forever be content to live in his shadow, and I'm never happy being second best."

"Hang on a sec Speedy McEager!" exclaimed Ebonwomon, "George is the one telling the truth! That is DeviPiximon, not Piximon!"

"Dan, listen to me," said the eldest Sovereign in a calm voice, "there is no need to fight George. Think about your crest. It is the crest of honor. Is killing your comrades an honorable act?"

"He is no comrade of mine," came the retort, "he is only trying to hold me back. It is he who is dishonorable, and now he must pay. Since you Sovereigns have decided to side with the traitor I must dispose of you as well."

"Dan, don't do this!" exclaimed Crocmon.

"You cannot fight us all," declared the rookie Sovereign proudly straightening himself up to his full height fire glowing in his eyes.

"You seem to forget that you are powerless," gloated Dan levitating above them.

-------------

Meanwhile, Hannah, Jimmy, and their digimon were watching the spectacle unfold. They floated in place a vacant expression on their faces, when George asked them for help they briefly glanced at him and shook their heads condemning him to death. Rachel was still off picking flowers.

-------------

George was disheartened by the condemnation of his supposed friends, but he knew that dwelling on it would only lead to inaction which was fatal. As he thought about the resources available, his hand reflexively reached down to his side and the teen felt the hilt of his sword. The seeds of a plan began to form in his mind as he glanced towards Ebonwomon.

The giant turtle noticed his gaze and figured something was up. A haunted look came over his face as he realized what it was.

"Oh no!" he said, "ye ain't gettin' me to do that. Never! Not in a million years!"

"I haven't even asked you yet!" said the exasperated George. Ebonwomon groaned, a sign to continue. "I need you to fly, and I realize it makes you nauseous, but better nauseous than dead right?"

Ebonwomon's heads nodded and George climbed onto his back drawing the Sword of Chaos.

"Now we have a fighting chance," he grunted.

Narrator: Will George and the Sovereigns survive this latest threat, and will Rachel ever return from picking flowers? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!!!

21: hehehehehehehehehe

Sponsor: What's so funny?

21: This is a silly segment.

Sponsor: meh.

21: There was also a bit of foreshadow in this chapter if you look close enough...

Sponsor: Where? I didn't see anything but mindless drivel!

21: If I told you, I would ruin later plot points...

Sponsor: Whoa! This garglemesh has a plot?!

21: yep

The Sponsor faints out of sheer shock.

21 shrugs: He's a lost cause anyways...I'll be back as soon as I finish another chapter but since 2nd semester starts tomorrow it may not be for a while. Hang in there!


	5. Corruption part 2

21: I'll bet you thought I'd forgotten to update, but I didn't. My most recent chapter required a bit of tweaking before production was finished.

Sponsor: Yeah, yeah, yeah, can we get on with it?!

21: Quiet you! Anyways, this chapter is a pretty good one as far as chapters go, but like I said last chapter, this isn't the main plot for this arc, this is leading up to the main plot.

Sponsor: In other words, you haven't been able to locate a plot yet, have you?

21: That's not true, I know exactly what's going to happen. Leading up to it though, can be a pain.

Sponsor: Your point?

21: None, but don't worry, I think even you will like this chapter my grumpy sponsor type being...

Sponsor: and why's that?

21: Because a certain character gains an interesting new ability...albeit a temporary one.

Sponsor: and that ability would be...?

21: I'm not saying anything more, just read the chapter.

Sponsor: fine, the21stMartian does not own digimon.

21: very good, now I hereby present the latest installment to my ongoing saga, the D0 Trilogy, namely...

Episode 54: Corruption Part 2: The Phoenix and the Angel

(Dan): We had finally defeated Titanmon, but we got sucked into some kind of vortex thingy. It took us to a bizarre world where George and the Sovereigns had no powers, but the rest of us did. Piximon came along to train us, and he gave me some advice. He told me that George has been standing in my way preventing me from achieving my potential. Now I'm going to destroy both him and the useless Sovereigns who try to deceive me.

The wind picked up and it blew across the field of liquid boulders. On one of those infinite boulders huddled George and the Sovereigns. In front of them floated a pissed off Dan. Random objects floated above them, while the sky stretched out into a gapping void beneath them. "This is the end for you, my dear friend!" declared Dan, releasing the energy he had built up in his palms.

At George's command, Ebonwomon flew upwards, dodging the blasts and taking George, who sat astride his back, with him. George knew he didn't have long since Ebonwomon got airsick easily, so he told the Sovereign to charge forward. Dan remained floating in place a smug look crossing his face. George swung the Sword of Chaos above his head. At the last moment, Dan flew upwards dodging the blade and blasted George and Ebonwomon downwards. The two spiraled unconscious and out of control into the void of the sky, occasionally ricocheting off trees.

"NOO!!!!!!!!!" exclaimed Crocmon, as he jumped off the boulder to aid his friends. That turned out to be a wise decision as Dan's next blast missed him by a hair. George's digivice began to glow.

"Crocmon warp digivolve to—CyborgDragonmon!!!!"

"CyborgDragonmon Ultra digivolve to—MagnaDragonmon!!!!"

MagnaDragonmon flew downwards. He guided Ebonwomon into a tree where he stuck fast, and then flew upwards to challenge this latest threat.

"Dan," he said, "I don't want to hurt you, but I cannot allow you to harm George."

Dan laughed. "You cannot allow?!" he chuckled darkly, "I don't think that's relevant at this point since I have enough power to destroy you."

Dan launched a volley of blasts which MagnaDragonmon managed to dodge; he then flew in for a counterstrike.

"Flaming Claw!!!!!!!"

His metallic claw shot outwards towards Dan, who caught it and swung the golden dragon around like a ragdoll before smashing him into one of the liquid boulders, which absorbed him.

-------------

DeviPiximon was slightly concerned at this latest development. "Strange," he thought, "Beings of that amount of power are usually stripped of it upon entering this world…but wait! The problem is that he didn't enter the world like that. He digivolved…this means that Digivolution cancels the power absorber. This could be bad."

Hannah and Jimmy continued to watch the battle unfold with vacant expressions, but DeviPiximon knew that if Dan lost, his hold over them would evaporate. That said, he was not unduly concerned since Dan had enough firepower to vaporize MagnaDragonmon, and no other digimon would be joining the fray since those that had powers were under the influence of his hypnosis spell. The fur ball chuckled to himself. This was way too easy.

-------------

MagnaDragonmon blasted his way out of the boulder only to find himself ducking back inside to avoid a barrage of blasts loosed by Dan. The blasts bounced off the flexible outer skin of the boulder and flew off in random directions. One of them sailed close to the tree that the unconscious forms of George and Ebonwomon were resting in. It wasn't close enough to destroy the tree, or indeed move the gigantic turtle residing there in, but it was enough to knock George off his back. George spiraled downwards for what seemed like an eternity. He woke up to find himself falling, but he didn't have time to scream as a mini-cyclone surrounded him.

-------------

MagnaDragonmon flew out of the boulder at Mach 1, Dan was too slow to blast him, and barely had enough time to set up a force field before the golden dragon collided with him. The impact cracked the force field, but it held. Dan then kept the mighty warrior at close range for long enough to blast him downwards and into the sky. His armor was cracked and he no longer glowed. His eyes had shut and he too began to spiral downwards through the seemingly bottomless pit.

-------------

When the cyclone stopped and the air cleared George found himself looking at…well himself; the cyclone had cloned him. Instantly, both Georges began to glow simultaneously, one in a red-orange aura and the other in a light blue one.

"George slide digivolve to—Falconmon!!!!!"

"George slide digivolve to—IceAngemon!!!!!"

The former Sovereign and the holy general flew upwards to save their fallen comrade. Together they picked up the falling dragon and flew him safely to a boulder miles away from the steaming Dan. The two forms of George looked down concerned for their partner who battled valiantly against their deranged friend. MagnaDragonmon opened his eyes, and for a moment thought he had died. Then he realized that this universe did not necessarily follow any particular set of rules, so what he was seeing wasn't impossible. Either way, he knew this was the end for him.

"George," he said weakly, "I need to dedigivolve to conserve my energy, but I will siphon off all but the minimum to you two so that you may fight…"

With that, his eyes closed and he began to glow in a blue-green aura, as did the two versions of George. When the light cleared MagnaDragonmon was gone and in his place was DemiCrocmon. The two Georges however felt energized beyond anything they'd ever felt before.

"Thank you my dear friend," they said simultaneously.

By this time Dan had caught up with them, and was enraged to find that now there were two Georges he had to face, but he would have his revenge no matter what.

"Dan," said the phoenix, "you have attacked us without provocation and as such become an agent of evil."

"It is therefore our obligation to incapacitate you as best we can," continued the angel, "but repent now and we will forgive your treachery."

"**You** want me to apologize for **my** treachery?! How dare you!!! It is you who should apologize! You are constantly putting me down! I will destroy you no matter how many of you there are!!!"

"Very well," said the angel beginning to glow.

"Don't say we didn't warn you," added the phoenix as he too began to glow.

"IceAngemon Ultra digivolve to—MagnaIceAngemon!!!!!"

"Falconmon Ultra digivolve to—WarFalconmon!!!!!"

The lights dimmed and revealed two powerful looking beings.

"I am MagnaIceAngemon. My Ice Slash and Gate of the Tundra attacks will obliterate my opponents."

MagnaIceAngemon stood twice the size of IceAngemon. His hair was white and his helmet was longer and also white. His light blue robes had been replaced with white armor which ended in a long icicle-like sword on the top of his left glove. He wore a white cloak with golden trimming along the bottom inscribed with black runes. The crest of power was inscribed on his sword and on the cloak. His right arm held a battle axe, and just below its blade was gold trimming with more runes. His mouth was still visible and his jaw was clenched in determination. He had four wings which sat folded under his cloak. He was surrounded with a light blue aura.

"I am WarFalconmon, my Fire Storm and Heat Blast attacks will fry my enemies into a crisp."

WarFalconmon was covered in red and gold armor. His helmet was similar in design to that of Unimon, leaving a black visor for the eyes. The crest of power was inscribed on his forehead. His wings were no longer feathered. Instead two collapsible robotic wings with built in lasers and missile launchers took their place. WarFalconmon's tail was similar in design to several nunchucks linked together by chains of fire. It could separate and bend in anyway WarFalconmon desired. His legs and talons were retractable and when they were stored inside his chassis WarFalconmon could fly with jet power. He glowed in a red-orange aura.

DeviPiximon was now more than just a little concerned. He started to slink away hoping to escape before the battle was over. He would never make it.

A pale complexion spread across Dan's features as he eyed the two combatants. He launched energy blasts with all his might creating a huge volley, but the phoenix and the angel stood their ground.

"Fire Wall!!!!!" shouted WarFalconmon.

Instantly, a wall of flames leapt up and absorbed the blasts. MagnaIceAngemon liquefied himself, and dodged easily.

Neither warrior was the least bit fazed.

The angel reappeared behind the stunned Dan, while the phoenix remained in front of him. Dan was surrounded.

"Ice Slash!!!!!" Dan was stabbed by MagnaIceAngemon's sword.

"Heat Blast!!!!!" Dan was engulfed by a massive blast of arid air of a temperature above 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

The hotheaded teen collapsed in a heap, defeated but alive.

Instantly, Hannah, Jimmy, and the other digimon came out of their stupor, and witnessed the two massive warriors as though it were for the first time.

"Whoa!" said Jimmy.

"I take it those are the digivolutions of Falconmon and IceAngemon, but how are they both here?" inquired Hannah.

"My guess is that this universe has certain features which allow for cloning. As soon as we leave, the effects should reverse themselves," answered the eldest Sovereign.

Zhuqiaomon nodded towards his predecessor's form. "I see what you saw in him now," he said to himself. Aloud he said, "good job…for a human anyways." A smile played along his beak showing that he was only joking about the "human" thing.

"There is only one thing left to do now," said WarFalconmon.

"And that is to capture DeviPiximon," continued MagnaIceAngemon.

The two warriors flew in the direction the fur ball had slinked away in, and soon returned with him struggling futilely in their grasp.

Dan awoke, and groaned in pain. He looked upon his "mentor" for the first time with his own eyes. They widened as he noticed that George had not been lying. He hung his head in shame.

"I'm sorry," he said, "you were right all along, and I should have seen it."

"It's okay Dan," said the two Georges, "it can happen to anyone. Take it from someone who made the same mistake."

Ebonwomon woke up dazed in the tree, but managed to float back up to the boulder, looking rather queasy.

"I take it we won," he said looking at the phoenix and the angel.

Rachel finally returned carrying a huge amount of flowers and smiling. She stopped cold when she saw the two warriors.

She smiled and said, "I don't want to know do I?"

"Now that we are all here," said Griffinmon, "we should try to find a way home."

Narrator: Will the Digidestined ever find their way home, and what will they do with DeviPiximon? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

Sponsor: T-t-two Georges?!?!?!

21: yep, I figured with one of him around, so much destruction would occur, so what would happen if there were two Georges...

Sponsor: would you care to share your results with the rest of the class?

21: THEY KICKED BUTT...

Sponsor: *sigh* at least the cloning is temporary, right?

21: yeah, I suppose *cough* *cough*

Sponsor: What's that supposed to mean?!

21: Nothing...at least not for the near future anyways...

Sponsor: good, I guess. So his ability to Ultra digivolve, was that also temporary?

21: No, I kinda like these new forms, so I think I'll stick with them. Besides, all of the enemies for the remainder of the Trilogy are Ultra level or higher...so it's kinda necessary. Like I said, I'm building up to the plot...in a semi-humorous manner.

Sponsor: yeah, yeah, you're a riot, can I go home now?

21: I suppose so, after all, my work here is done.

Sponsor: good...

21: See y'all next time!!


	6. Escape From Limbo

21: ...ok, I'm sorry this took so long there were several factors that prevented my updating including, but not limited to: work, mid-terms, illnesses, and fatal computer viruses.

Sponsor: Excuses, excuses...

21: Anyways, as promised, this will be a double update since I finally managed to write an ending for this episode and a beginning for the next one, so if my dear Sponsor would just give the disclaimer we'd be on our merry way.

Sponsor: The21stMartian is not the owner of Digimon, so no suing.

21: Excellent, and so without further ado I present the next installment of my ongoing trilogy, namely...

Episode 55: Escape from Limbo

(Jimmy): Hannah and I were watching as Dan battled against George. In order to save him Crocmon digivolved to MagnaDragonmon, but even he wasn't enough to defeat Dan. Somehow, George managed to clone himself and Falconmon and IceAngemon used the remainder of MagnaDragonmon's energy to digivolve to WarFalconmon and MagnaIceAngemon. Together they defeated Dan, and Hannah and I were freed from DeviPiximon's hypnosis. The two warriors captured the fiend, and now we are looking for a way home…I hope we can find one.

The Digidestined and the Sovereigns had gathered together to discuss plans for escaping Limbo.

"What do you think can be done Griffinmon? From what I've heard there are no entrances or exits to Limbo," asked Azulongmon.

"Aye, and we only got here by accident, so there's no repeating that," added Ebonwomon.

"Perhaps our 'guest' knows something about Limbo. After all he is here now," replied Griffinmon.

"I will tell you nothing, nope nope!" said DeviPiximon defiantly.

"We will see about that," said WarFalconmon unfolding his mechanized wings and aiming the lasers at the devilish pixie.

"Hold on!" said MagnaIceAngemon putting his battle axe between DeviPiximon and WarFalconmon's lasers, "violence is not the answer!"

"And I suppose you have a better solution?" inquired the phoenix sarcastically.

"Actually," said the angel smiling wickedly, "I do!"

The black fur ball gulped. Angels were known to be cruel sometimes.

"Gate of the Tundra!!!!!"

MagnaIceAngemon swung his battle axe like a baton and literally cut through the air. A gate could be seen forming in the rip.

"I would advise that everybody stands back," he warned as the gate began to open letting forth blasts of frigid air. Upon contact with the outside's atmosphere the gate's air began to rapidly cool until it was at absolute zero, literally freezing the gas particles until DeviPiximon was trapped in a box of frozen air particles.

"That should keep him on ice for a few millennia," quipped the angel, "or at least until he tells us how he got here."

Within moments, the devilish fur ball agreed to tell them everything. MagnaIceAngemon once again called upon the gate to release its powers, and DeviPiximon was freed from the ice, but still really cold.

"E-e-exp-p-plain t-t-to m-m-me h-h-how th-th-that-t-t w-w-wasn't-t-t t-t-t-tort-t-ture!" he stammered while shivering.

"Man," said WarFalconmon, "that's really annoying. Luckily I have a solution."

"Heat Blast!!!!!"

That warmed DeviPiximon up a little too fast, and shortly his body was as cooked as a chicken.

"Feel better?" asked the phoenix.

His response was a cough of smoke.

"Give it a break guys," said Hannah sternly, "he said he'd tell us everything!"

"Alright," sighed the two Georges simultaneously.

After a few more coughs of smoke and both Georges promising not to harm him again, DeviPiximon began to tell his tale.

"Back in my dimension I was known as the greatest mentor of warriors. All of the successful tyrants began their careers by being trained by me. One day five humans appeared, but one of them was special; George Helltower. This young man had been granted the dangerous crest of power by the Digital World in order for him to eventually become its ruler. After a near fatal mishap on Upload Island, where George had first been told of his powers, I decided to train him myself. So began weeks of training. He progressed quickly and eagerly absorbed all of the dark arts that I taught him. After our final lesson, I gave George a pair of goggles to help him see in the deserts of Driver, where he was needed to aid his allies in their quest against kindness and good. Before leaving, Helltower decided to experiment with his newfound powers and banished me to Limbo using some kind of device powered by him, and so I began my life of solitude among the clutter of this terrible world, but I never intended to stay. I have searched for what feels like an eternity to find an exit, but none exists. The main problem is finding a power source with enough juice to blast a hole in the fabric of space-time, after that I would need to find George's device, to bring me back to my world," he explained.

"And you've been unable to find a power source?" asked Hannah.

"Not until now," said the fur ball.

"Go on," prompted the Georges.

"Man that's freaky," whispered Jimmy to Dan who nodded in response.

"The main problem with finding a power source is that all powerful entities that enter this world, which is defined as Megas and higher in terms of digimon, lose their powers upon entering this world, though Ultimates do have a little of their power siphoned away. This is how Limbo has remained inescapable for so long. Usually, when entities are sent here they are sent in solitude for a life of solitude, but when you came it was as a group. My guess is the loose power automatically became attracted to the other people in the group as it could not go back to its original user. I witnessed your arrival and the eventual discovery of your new powers. At first this confused me, until I came up with the previously stated theory that power is attracted to entities or vice versa. I then decided to wreak vengeance upon the one in your universe called George before implementing my escape plans. I used my pixie powers to hypnotize the three Digidestined known as Dan, Jimmy, and Hannah, and then began to train them. Unfortunately, I did not realize that digivolution was possible in Limbo, and that the digivolved being would have powers above that of an Ultimate, but now it makes sense. You see, the power is stripped from the being as it enters Limbo, but while it is in Limbo it can gain power by changing its form. The power to digivolve comes from wanting to help another, so it cannot be stripped by Limbo. After defeating George and the Sovereigns I intended to use the hypnotized Digidestined to help me find my universe's George's device and utilize their power to go home while leaving them trapped here. When Dan was defeated, the shock overrode my control, and the Digidestined were freed," continued the devilish pixie.

"And how do you know George's device is here?" asked Zhuqiaomon.

"I saw him throw it in after me. He may not have shown it, but my universe's George was very paranoid. He believed that if someone else got their hands on his device the first thing they would do would be to banish him to Limbo, and without the device he'd be powerless to escape. He knew he could always create more of them should he ever require it, so he threw this one in for two reasons. The first was so that it couldn't be used against him, and the second was to use in case he ever got trapped in Limbo. Unfortunately for him, he didn't realize two things. The first being how big Limbo is. George believed that Limbo was a mere 'pocket dimension' which means a fold between two dimensions, but it is not. He could spend an eternity looking for the one device among all this rubbish. The second and more fatal to his plans was that Limbo would take away his powers upon his entry. The George from my universe was unable to 'slide digivolve' as yours can, he'd be trapped for an eternity. George had figured that the reason nobody could escape Limbo wasn't an issue of power, it was an issue of not having a device to create a portal with the power. Raw power cannot rip space-time, it is true, but that was only part of the problem. To escape one needs both power, which gets siphoned away, and a device with which to create a portal. I believe the device George used was a copy of his digivice," explained DeviPiximon.

The Georges perked up.

"A digivice," they said, "I saw one earlier. That was how I discovered that I couldn't fly!"

Griffinmon exhaled. "Then there is still hope. We know that the device we seek is in this area, together you can find it, if you spread out. Ebonwomon, I know you don't like to fly, but the more people we have looking, the faster we will find the device we seek. Since the three of us are powerless, we will guard DeviPiximon. If he tries to escape I will step on him. We may not have our powers, but we are still big enough to subdue a tiny digimon like him."

The Digidestined and Ebonwomon spread out to look for the digivice. Eventually (and after at least ten attempts at escaping by DeviPiximon), Ebonwomon found it while resting on a boulder to avoid becoming too airsick.

The Georges transformed back into humans to figure out how to work the darn thing. It looked exactly like a digivice, except it was black and the back was engraved with the crest of power. They turned to DeviPiximon.

"How did he work this device?" they asked.

"As far as I know he just held it up, said something about a portal opening, and it worked. It required a lot of his power to conjure up that portal though."

"What do you think?" asked one George to the other.

"It's worth a shot," came the response.

Together, they held the device and lowered it so that it faced the sky.

"Digi-Port Open!" they shouted. Their auras began to build as a portal appeared in the sky. Their faces contorted in pain as the power level built up. DeviPiximon was right, this did take a lot of power, even with two of them. After several tense moments the portal solidified. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, especially the two Georges.

"Go on through," they said, "I'll be right behind you."

Everyone (including a protesting DeviPiximon) went through the portal, leaving the two Georges behind.

"Well," said one, "this is goodbye."

"It was nice having someone to talk to for once," said the other. They shook hands and walked through the portal as one. At the other side, only one George emerged.

-------------

"Where have you been?!" demanded a familiar voice behind them, "I had to take care of this world by myself, yep yep!"

Piximon walked in front of them, and boy did he look steamed. Two digimon were with him, both were mechanical. One was humanoid and about the size of an Andromon, but his armor was red, and he had copper hair showing under his helmet. One of his arms was a blaster, on the other side he had a holster which contained a plasma gun. His helmet was similar in design to Angemon's.

The other was much bigger and was covered in black and silver armor. He was like a giant mechanized knight, but with awesome lasers and other state of the art weapons. He had a tail, which ended in a massive cannon, and thrusters attached to the top of his back. Above the thrusters were two rotatable shoulder cannons His feet were like those of a beast, but metallic, and his metallic arms and legs appeared capable of crushing buildings into tiny cans. His helmet was a similar design to Machinedramon's, but was silver instead of black. He had twin shoulder pads of a similar design to Magnamon's, but black instead of gold. Finally, he was adorned with a black cape that was torn at the bottom.

"These are my associates and the leaders of Tritania, Machinemon and his assistant Technomon. Things have not been going so well since you left, nope nope. Tritania is the last uncorrupted place in the whole Digital World. It was founded a mere hundred years ago to protect the remaining good digimon," said Piximon.

"A hundred years," said Griffinmon, "just how long were we gone?"

"You have been gone for over five hundred years," stated the massive Machinemon.

Narrator: What has happened to the Digital World while the Digidestined were trapped in Limbo? And what will be the final fate of DeviPiximon? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

21: ...with this chapter we have finally caught up to the plot, or rather, the plot has finally encountered the protagonists. Unfortunately, there were disastrous developments off screen.

Sponsor: I just have one question.

21: Shoot

Sponsor: Where did the second George go?

21: Ah yes, that was a very tearful goodbye wasn't it?

Sponsor: That doesn't answer my question

21: Hang on just a few more seconds...

(A funny looking portal appears and deposits the second George right onto the Sponsor's head)

George: Excellent, I see you have made the proper arrangements after all.

21: Did you ever doubt me?

George: maybe for a few brief seconds

Sponsor: pardon me for interrupting your stimulating conversation, but WILL YOU PLEASE GET YOUR CHARACTER OFF OF ME!!!!!!!!!

(George untangles himself from the Sponsor)

Sponsor: ...so, you were planning on this the whole time?

21: yeah, I liked having George around at the beginning of D0: The Terrible Three, so I decided to keep him around PERMANENTLY.

(The Sponsor can be seen panicking as George and 21 start tearing the place apart)

21: Oh, one last little thing, I made a slight error last chapter. The Level after Mega is Ultra (A reference to the so called "super ultimate" digimon that pop up occasionally in the anime), but the digivolution to get to Ultra level is actually Giga Digivolving (a reference to the fact that Giga means 10^9, whereas Mega means a mere 10^6). It's quite simple really...

(George bonks the Sponsor on the head as he and 21 continue making a ruckus, the Sponsor collapses)

To be continued...


	7. Tritania's Plight

21: As promised, here is the second chapter I had been stymied with about a month and a half ago. The plot finally comes to light as we reveal what has transpired after the final epic battle with Titanmon (or at least the relevant stuff).

George: Hey, what's to eat?

21: hmmm...you wanna get a pizza or ten?

George: On the Sponsor's tab?

21: That's what he gets for napping on the job.

George: hello Pizza Place? I'd like to order 500 pizzas...yes you heard me correctly 500...yes, and I'd like to put this on Sponsor's tab...that's right for delivery...thank you...bye

21: Well?

George: They'll be here in a few minutes

21: Someone must've tipped them off you were in the neighborhood again...

George: Yep, I'm their number 1 customer after all...or more accurately, our dear Sponsor is...

(George and 21 laugh maniacally until the doorbell rings and the pizzas are delivered)

21: While we chow down to restore our energy, you are quite welcome to read the next installment of my trilogy namely...

Episode 56: Tritania's Plight

(Hannah): In order to escape Limbo, we questioned DeviPiximon, who eventually told us that the George Helltower from his universe had trapped him there using a digivice like machine. Apparently his George had thrown the machine into Limbo to prevent being trapped therein at a later time. Our Georges had seen that machine, and it wasn't long before we found it. After a heartfelt goodbye, the two Georges followed everyone through the portal, and we found ourselves in the Digital World, where we were promptly confronted by Piximon, and his two associates, Machinemon and Technomon. Apparently we've been gone for over a millennium!

In the silence that followed Machinemon's statement, the only sound heard was his cape being blown in the wind. The Digidestined and Sovereigns stood and floated in shock as the news hit them like a ton of bricks. In the interim, DeviPiximon tried to escape, but George reflexively reached out to grab him. Finally, Jimmy asked the question they had all been dying to know, but at the same time dreading the answer.

"What's happened while we've been gone?" said he cautiously.

"A race of super beings emerged from the depths of the earth and began to conquer and reformat the Digital World," answered Technomon, "At first we thought the Sovereigns would come to our aid, but the super beings continued to take over, and nobody had seen the Sovereigns or the Digidestined since their epic battle with Titanmon."

"Eventually, we decided to take matters into our own hands, but it was far too late yep, yep. The evil ones had conquered and reformatted over half of the Digital World even faster than Humongousmon had," continued Piximon, "By this time, they had managed to assemble their minions, and we were easily overpowered."

"We founded Tritania a century ago as a final stronghold for all of the good digimon, but the evil ones did not permit us to do so without a fight. In a major battle, we managed to defeat the minions of the super beings causing them to retreat for the time being. However, time and again they have tried to drive us into the sea, but time and again we have held our own. The super beings themselves have been far too busy searching for you that they have not attacked us personally. Apparently we are not considered a big threat to them," added Machinemon.

"Do not delude yourselves though; even now they seek to destroy us. We are surrounded on three sides by the massive Desert Zone, which is controlled by one of the super beings. Everyday, they launch at least a dozen missiles into our territory killing our civilians and destroying our homes," finished Technomon.

A fit of giggling could be heard at this point. Everybody looked at DeviPiximon, still in George's grasp, who was the source of the laughter.

"Sounds like you've gotten yourselves into quite a pickle, yup yup!" he said chuckling.

Piximon's eyes narrowed at the sight of his counterpart.

"Where did you pick up this buffoon?" he inquired.

"We found him in Limbo," said George shrugging, "we took him here so he couldn't cause anymore mischief there."

Piximon twirled his spear and gave a warcry.

"Leave this one to me; I will vanquish him once and for all, yep yep!"

George shrugged again and let go of DeviPiximon, who picked up his spear and also gave a warcry.

"Defeat you I will, yup yup!"

The two charged at each other with sheer ferocity blazing in their eyes. Their spears crossed time and time again with neither getting in any strike. It looked like they were an even match, until they separated and launched their attacks.

"Pixi-Bomb!!!!!"

"Death-Bomb!!!!"

Due to the fact that he had been banished to Limbo, and had not yet returned to his own dimension, DeviPiximon had some of his power drained. Thus his attack was absorbed, but Piximon's connected with the unsuspecting fur ball. As he lay dying, DeviPiximon said one last thing.

"Not over this is, nope nope!"

With that he burst into trillions of particles which were scattered by the breeze.

Piximon gave another warcry and exclaimed, "I have defeated the evil one, yep yep. Deserve a medal I do, most certainly!"

"Okay then," said Rachel, "that was pointless…"

"How many of these super beings were there," asked George, getting back to business.

"Twelve," replied Machinemon, "they each control a massive territory that they reformatted to suit their needs. Defeating them before was difficult, but defeating them on their own battlefields will be almost impossible."

"We're the Digidestined," stated Dan confidently, "impossible is our specialty."

Suddenly, a smaller robot came running from a nearby settlement.

"Another bombing has occurred sirs," he stated, "this time they have hit one of our more populated areas. Estimated casualties are 500 wounded and 175 deleted, but it will take time to completely assess the damage done."

"I see," said Machinemon, "we must return to the capital at once to determine how best to prevent more missiles from landing. Technomon, call the cruiser."

The red robot took out a remote and pushed a button. Within a few minutes a needle-like pod appeared. Technomon pushed another button, and several compartments opened up revealing enough space for them all. The smaller robot climbed into the front behind a control console to drive the vehicle, while Piximon, Technomon, and Machinemon climbed into one of the passenger areas in the back.

"You are welcome to come with us Digidestined and Sovereigns, our capital is probably the safest place in the world due to its location as well as its fortifications," state Machinemon.

Griffinmon shook his head, "The Sovereigns must decline your generous offer. We need to return to our lair, which I assure you is still secure, in order to determine what our next step shall be. We have failed as the protectors of the Digital World, but perhaps we can find a way to remedy the situation. However, the Digidestined are welcome to join you if they so desire."

With that, the four great beings dispersed.

"Machinemon, we too have failed," said George, "It was our duty to protect this world and to destroy evil. Therefore, we will go with you to plan out a counterattack."

"A counterattack?!" exclaimed Technomon, "Impossible! We have not the resources to go on the offensive! We must use what little we have to protect our citizens."

"You cannot fight a defensive war here," responded the goggled teen heatedly, "if you do, nothing will change except that their aim might improve. Eventually even your capital won't be secure anymore!"

"May I suggest that WE GET A MOVE ON!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Piximon.

The Digidestined climbed into the cruiser, and the pilot closed the doors. The cruiser went at a nice pace, fast, but not too fast.

The countryside flashed by. They had started out in a wasteland, but as they moved further north they noticed luscious green hills. The green hills continued to grow as they progressed until the Digidestined found themselves surrounded by tall green mountains. Trees of all kinds were spread across green fields where many tiny streams and irrigation canals made sure all the plants were provided with water. They passed many settlements, many of them were small and farm based, but a few were major cities. The cities varied by terrain; those in the wasteland were hewn from or into rocks, while those in the more fertile areas were made from wood and metal. As the cruiser passed a lake, the Digidestined noticed a city on the waters. It had multiple levels, the top levels were above the water, allowing for land and air digimon to live out there, while the lower levels were underwater giving the sea digimon a place to live. There were many such lakes in the north part of Tritania, and on every one of them was at least one settlement.

"This is a nice country you have here," remarked George, as they passed yet another grove of trees, this one had a village of tree houses in its branches.

"Yes," replied Machinemon sadly, "but if things keep going the way they are, it will soon be nothing but a pile of rubble and slag…"

"Don't worry," said Dan, "we'll find a way to stop those missiles, and destroy the evil digimon who send them!"

Technomon sighed, "I wish it was as easy as you make it sound…"

The remainder of the journey was filled with silence.

The cruiser began to climb one of the mountains, it wasn't the largest, but it was certainly was taller than most of the other mountains. At the top, it landed on what appeared to be a wide open summit, but shortly afterwards the ground began to descend, taking the vehicle and its passengers with it. At the bottom, the cruiser slid of the platform and into a docking bay. The pilot turned off the seatbelt signs and the passengers disembarked.

The capital building, where the Digidestined and their hosts were located, was on a summit that overlooked the entire city. The Digidestined blinked at the sight of a splendid metropolis that sprawled in front of them. There were beautiful skyscrapers made of crystal, and many residential neighborhoods. Many digimon were seen bustling around the city going about their business. Closest to the capital building, on the opposite side of the summit were several farms to provide food for the city's inhabitants. On the far side of the city, and farthest from the capital building was an industrial area with several factories pumping in water, creating light, and performing other necessary functions for the survival of its denizens. A massive wall surrounded the city, and in the very center of the city was a massive laser canon, presumably to knock out stray missiles. At fixed intervals within the wall were guard chambers where uniformed digimon kept watch in the event of an invasion. Throughout the city, more uniformed digimon patrolled the streets keeping a constant watch and protecting the civilians. Several more uniformed digimon came rushing out of the capital building upon seeing their leader and his strange companions.

"Sir, it is good to see you again, but who are these people that accompanied you?" asked one of them curiously.

"General, call for a military meeting to take place at 1300 hours, do you understand?" said Machinemon, "All will be revealed then."

"Yes sir! Understood sir!" came the reply. With that, the soldier snapped a salute and marched back into the building from which he came, taking the others with.

Machinemon turned back to the Digidestined.

"Welcome to our humble capital, Lionheart City," said he.

Narrator: Will the Digidestined be able to pull off a counterattack against the evil digimon who plague Tritania, and what are the Sovereigns up to? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!!!

(The Sponsor finally wakes up and notices the mountain of empty pizza boxes)

Sponsor: What'd I miss?

21: Ah, you're awake, thanks for the pizza man, you're a real friend!

Sponsor: ah-bu-wa?!?! There must be at least a hundred boxes here...and I paid for it?!

George: Actually it's more like 500 and yes.

Sponsor: I ought to leave you numb skulls to your own doom...but I can't this show is actually doing well despite your antics...

21: Just say you line so we can go.

(21 and George sneak out while the Sponsor is speaking)

Sponsor: The21stMartian doesn't own Digimon, no suing is permitted...now, who's going to clean up this mess?

(Sponsor notices the empty room with pizza boxes strewn about and piled up precariously. The Sponsor sighs and pulls out a MegaBroom)


	8. Operation Desert Strike part 1

21: Greetings peoples! I have returned from a hiatus state!

Sponsor: Oh joy, you're finally back...

George: Hey man, it's been a while. How you doing?

21: Hungry, how 'bout you?

George: I could go for a bite or 1000 myself.

Sponsor: Will you two stop thinking about food for one second!!!

21: nope

George: ummm....I'd have to go with, no.

(21 and George pick up the phone to order takeout...massive insane amounts of takeout)

Sponsor: *sigh* The21stMartian is not the owner of Digimon so please do not sue (I'd probably wind up paying for it, and I have no money since a certain duo won't stop ordering out!!!)

George: I think he's referring to us...

21: Really? You sure? I though for sure he was referring to Ben and Jerry, those two have a lot of ice cream, but nothing to go with it...

Sponsor: Can we please JUST GET ON WITH IT?!?!?!!!!

21: Alright already, no need to yell...yeesh.

George: Without further delay, 21 would like to officially present...

Episode 57: Operation Desert Strike part 1: Send out the Scouts

(George): We returned to the Digital World to find that we had been missing for several centuries. Machinemon and Robomon took us to the capital of their recently founded country Tritania. They informed us that twelve powerful beings conquered the Digital World in our absence. Tritania was founded to protect the remaining good digimon, but it was constantly under threat of destruction. Once in the capital, Lionheart City, Machinemon called a meeting to determine our next course of action. Let's hope we can find a weakness in their defenses.

As Machinemon led the way to the conference hall, the Digidestined and their digimon followed. Eventually, they were joined by the same uniformed digimon they had seen earlier. The one referred to as "General" was tall and dignified with many medals pinned to his uniform. He held his arms at his sides, and had an airfoil coming out of his shoulders. His head was green and V-shaped at the top. He brought two other digimon with him. They both were out of uniform. The first was a strangely familiar robot, and the second was bird-like but bipedal.

As the group sat down, Technomon ran introductions.

"Digidestined, these are our three most distinguished soldiers, General Fujinmon, Colonel Hiandromon, and Captain Valkyrimon," he said.

George was looking at the Colonel with interest.

"Hiandromon," he asked, "any relation to Andromon?"

"Yes," came the reply, "I am the completed version of Andromon. I am much stronger than before."

"Are you the same Andromon that we met while battling Satanmon?" asked Hannah.

"Indeed," came the reply, "it is a pleasure to see you again, especially in light of your recent absence."

"So, these are the infamous Digidestined," said Fujinmon, "I thought they'd be a little taller…"

Machinemon made a growling noise. "Can we get back to business please?"

Valkyrimon nodded, and Machinemon continued.

"Since the Digidestined have returned, we can be sure our twelve friends will soon find out and learn that they have taken refuge here. While our defenses are strong enough to repel the rockets they send us from the Desert Zone, we would be overwhelmed by a full-on assault by all twelve demons simultaneously. We must consider our options before we take any action, but action must be taken soon or we will surely perish," he said.

"I suggest we exile them from this country, that way we'll be safe," said Fujinmon.

"Are you serious?" asked Valkyrimon, "the Digidestined are our only hope."

"They abandoned us, so why should we help them?" countered the General.

"I can't say I disagree with him," said George unexpectedly. All eyes turned towards the goggled teen.

"It would be the easiest way out for you, and we did neglect our duties…fair is fair," he sighed, "besides, we've gotten through tough situations before."

"That will not be necessary," rumbled Machinemon, "you are welcome to stay here as long as you need to."

"Indeed," added Technomon, "to face these monsters without a strategy would be suicide."

"Speaking of strategy," asked Crocmon, "where's Darkdramon? Was he destroyed by our adversaries?"

"I'm afraid not," replied Hiandromon, "you see, shortly after you disappeared Darkdramon fell ill. The D-Brigade was in a state of anarchy when suddenly a new leader arose from the rubble. He calls himself Chaosmon the Undefeated. Chaosmon was the first of the twelve demonic digimon to appear in this world. It was because of him the others were able to emerge into this world."

"So the D-Brigade has sided with our enemies and Darkdramon is no more…that's truly a shame," said George.

"Can we get on with it?" demanded Fujinmon, "if they're not leaving, what are we going to do about security?"

"I'd say we've got a week before our adversaries learn of the reappearance of the Digidestined," said Technomon, "we should spend that time preparing our defenses, and briefing the Digidestined on the nature of these current villains."

"With all due respect," interjected Valkyrimon, "should we not prepare for an offensive maneuver?"

"I am inclined to agree with the Captain on this matter," said Hiandromon.

"I third the motion," said Fujinmon, "it has been far too long since we had any real action around here; besides, the best defense is a strong offense."

"What say you Digidestined?" asked Machinemon.

"I believe I made my opinion quite clear on our ride here. There is no way you can win with a defensive strategy," said George.

"We'll fight them head on," said Dan.

"To allow the fight to occur on your home turf would usually make sense, but in this case, it would be better to take the fight to them so that innocent digimon will not be destroyed in the crossfire," said Hannah.

"We can't allow anymore digimon to get hurt because of us," said Rachel.

"As for me," said Jimmy, "whatever my friends decide, I will standby them."

"Then it is agreed," said Machinemon, "we must begin preparations for our upcoming offensive immediately. Our first course of action should be a scouting mission. Do I have volunteers?"

"I'll go!" said the Captain, "I have the most experience in a desert environment."

"I'll go too," said George, "after all, Crocmon is the only digimon we have capable of digivolving past Mega. That may come in handy should we find ourselves in a tough spot."

"No," exclaimed Hannah, "you are in no condition to go anywhere! Have you looked at yourself in a mirror lately? Your exertions in Limbo have drained you. I should go; I'm more alert and less battle weary."

The goggled teen sighed, "your logic is as flawless as ever. Very well, you may go in my stead."

"The rest of us shall stay behind and brainstorm tactics," said Machinemon.

"Good luck," said Hiandromon.

Hannah, Lizardmon, and Valkyrimon were given provisions and supplies. Hannah was disguised as a Digimon so that the enemy wouldn't recognize her as a Digidestined. The two were out the door and on a cruiser to the border within a half hour after they were dismissed from Machinemon's council.

"How much experience do you have in deserts?" asked Hannah.

"Not as much as I would like the others to think," came the reply, "but I had to be the one sent on this mission."

"Why?"

"This is the most dangerous phase of the plan, if we are discovered, which is pretty likely, then in best case scenario we will be killed on the spot."

"What's the worst case scenario?"

"We'll be captured and tortured until Tritania surrenders…"

"So you're the least susceptible to torture?"

"No, I'm the most expendable, without me they'd still be able to launch effective offensives. I'm no good at thinking; I'm good at improvising and fighting."

"That's a pretty pessimistic view of our mission."

"No, it's a practical one. We good digimon have learned to think ahead about all possible outcomes and choose the most practical solutions, even if it means certain deletion. That is how Tritania has managed to survive."

"Well, we're here now, so hopefully things will begin to improve."

"Maybe."

They sat in silence for the duration of their journey. About ten miles from the border, the cruiser stopped and they were let off at a small settlement. The local digimon provided them with maps of the area and told them of a gap believed to exist in the enemy's border patrols. Hannah and Valkyrimon thanked them, and the three scouts went on towards the dangerous border.

* * *

"If I may ask," began George, "exactly what are we facing here?"

"The most tangible threat at the moment comes from the leader of the Desert Zone, a ruthless digimon with barbaric methods. He is known as KingTerrormon the Heartless. He is responsible for the rockets that plague our citizens daily, and will resort to any tactic to win. He cares not for others, and is willing to send his pawns the Terrormon into certain doom in order to kill us a few dozen at a time," replied Machinemon.

"How strong is he?" asked Jimmy.

"He is an Ultra level, like Titanmon, but on his own he is not nearly as powerful," replied Technomon.

"Explain," said Dan.

"Each of the evil digimon we are facing is an Ultra level digimon, and thus is a major threat to most normal digimon. Matters get worse when they are within their own territory, because within their territories they gain a power boost," elaborated Hiandromon.

"That explains why they needed to reformat the Digital World," said Crocmon, "on their own they'd be unable to face other Ultra level Digimon."

"But what about strength in numbers?" inquired George, "surely with twelve of them they'd easily be able to overcome all opposition? After all, there aren't twelve other Ultra digimon that I know of, even counting myself, MagnaDragonmon, the Sovereigns, Technomon, and Machinemon, we are only eight…"

"Evil digimon don't work like that," said Machinemon, "they do not trust each other, and they are always looking for a chance to get rid of the competition."

"I see," said Jimmy, "they always want to be on the winning side, but will back stab their allies given the opportunity."

"So the territorial power boosts are to protect them from each other as much as they are to protect them from us," explained Ferarimon.

"So can't we just use their own suspicions against them?" asked Rachel.

"They're too powerful," said Hiandromon, "even if we succeeded in getting them to fight each other, the battle would likely destroy the Digital World and the good digimon would get caught in the crossfire."

"Then we'll have to take 'em out one at a time," said Dan.

"In order to do that, we'd need to navigate to the very heart of their respective territories, dodging traps and minions along the way," said Fujinmon.

"A most perplexing problem indeed," said Ferarimon thoughtfully.

George and Crocmon yawned.

"I suggest we adjourn this meeting so we may all rest up. In the meantime, please begin pondering solutions to our current conundrum," said Technomon.

As the assembly began to break up, Machinemon walked over to George.

"May I speak with you and Crocmon for a moment? I realize you are tired, but the information needs to be given to you as soon as possible," asked the robotic leader.

"Very well," said George.

* * *

Valkyrimon was looking through binoculars towards the nearby border. He was waiting for the change in guards scheduled to occur in a few minutes. The guards were mostly concealed behind a slew of boulders, but the trained hawk-like eyes of the Captain could spot them with no problem. He passed the binoculars to Hannah and pointed out the nearest of them. This specimen was roughly the size of a small boulder and was a dull ruby red color. He was insectoid and had six legs coming from his torso. He had two small antennae sticking out from what Hannah assumed to be his head. She looked at Valkyrimon questioningly.

"Scarabmon," he whispered, "although they're only Champion level digimon, we shouldn't go looking for a fight. That would alert KingTerrormon that something was up."

"KingTerrormon?" asked Hannah.

"The boss of this area," explained the Captain, taking back the binoculars.

He sat watching the endless desert sands that flowed in front of them until he saw what he had been looking for, a cloud of dust slowly approaching their location. He nodded at Hannah and Lizardmon.

"It's time to go," he said.

Narrator: Will Hannah and Valkyrimon succeed in infiltrating the Desert Zone's impenetrable sands? What does Machinemon want to tell George and Crocmon about? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters.

21 and George are munching on mountains of takeout.

21: Well, that about wraps things up here. Depending on how fast I can write, I may be back with a new chapter on Sunday, but given the two finals I still have yet to go that's doubtful...

George: In the meantime, you're welcome to reread the 2 previous parts to the Trilogy as much as you want.

Sponsor: hey you two dimwits on the mountain!

21: I think he means us...

Sponsor: Considering I payed for this food, I'm going to take some for myself.

(Sponsor reaches for a box of takeout noodles)

George: Blasphemy!!!

(21 and George glare daggers at the Sponsor until he drops the box and backs slowly out of the room.)

21: That's better!

(21 and George resume their eating...what else is new?)


	9. Operation Desert Strike part 2

21: well, it's been a little longer than I would have liked it to be, but I managed to write another chapter.

Sponsor: You kids these days have no respect for deadlines...

George: Actually, he was working on something somewhat related

Sponsor: What could he possibly have been working on that's related to this mess?

21: ...my revision of season 2

Sponsor: but that's not supposed to come for a while, you've still got to finish this, you're two D0 movies, and season 1.5 first!

21: I know, which is why I'm not yet releasing what I've written, but after reading and rereading some of the awesome season 2 rewrites out there, I was inspired to begin mine.

George: Care to give us a sneak peak?

21: No, but I will announce the villains I've decided will confront the Digidestined in my rewrite so far.

Sponsor: Oy Gevalt...

21: First and foremost will obviously be the Digimon Emperor (but with a slight twist). Second are Arukenimon and Mummymon, so nothing new so far. BlackWarGreymon (from D0: The Terrible Three) will return, but in a complicated way, but still nothing totally new. Finally, I'm getting rid of Owikawa in favor of Analogman, and Dark George will make a return appearance. I think that Devimon and Dragomon may have an extended role in my rewrite, but I'm not quite sure yet...

George: Sounds great! I can't wait!

Sponsor: Sounds like another mess to me, but if it gets ratings I'll live with it.

21: Now for our disclaimer...if you please.

Sponsor: The21stMartian does not own Digimon, so no suing permitted!

21: Excellent! Let's press on shall we?

Episode 58: Operation Desert Strike part 2: The Expendable Factor

(Jimmy): We were introduced to three of Tritania's best soldiers, Fujinmon, Hiandromon, and Valkyrimon. It was determined that we needed plan an offensive, and for that we needed detailed information on enemy security. Hannah, Lizardmon, and Valkyrimon were sent to scout out the enemy's position. Meanwhile, the rest of us planned for the long term extermination of the other eleven demons…I hope they're having more success than we are.

Hannah took the binoculars and looked out toward the oncoming dust storm. At a closer glance it was revealed to be a stampede of several gray rock-like creatures of a medium size, the relief squad for the Scarabmon.

"Let's get moving," said Valkyrimon.

Hannah nodded and the three scouts moved out from their concealment at the precise moment the Scarabmon began backing away from the border. As predicted, the guards were so lazy they abandoned their posts as soon as their relief squad was in sight, which left a few minutes for Hannah, Valkyrimon, and Lizardmon to rush in and, under the cover of the dust of the retreating Scarabmon, run towards a large sand dune, where they would find cover. Lizardmon's tail accidentally clipped one of the oncoming beasts, but it didn't even notice due to its thick skin.

Under the cover of the sand dune, Hannah looked closer at the new guards.

They were quadrupeds, and apparently not very intelligent. They resembled

Rhinoceroses in basic build, but their skin appeared to be made out of a flexible rock-like material and they had four horns instead of two.

"What are those things?" she asked.

"Rockdramon," answered Valkyrimon, "also Champions, but much deadlier than the Scarabmon since they have no sense of fear whatsoever and will recklessly charge at any adversary regardless of their level. In this manner, they have managed to bring even some Mega digimon to their knees."

"We should keep moving," suggested Lizardmon.

The other two nodded and they proceeded further into enemy territory.

* * *

"Now George, listen carefully because what I have to tell you is of the utmost importance," said Machinemon.

Despite his exhaustion, George focused all his attention on the robotic warrior standing before him.

"I am going to give you the details on the remaining eleven demons, which you, in turn, shall analyze and give to the other Digidestined," said the robot.

"But why? Why are you telling me? Can't this wait until our next conference?" asked the goggled teen.

"At the next meeting we must confront more tangible threats. There would be no time for this briefing," was the reply.

"Then the one after that," prompted Crocmon.

"There isn't time," was all Machinemon said, "now no more interruptions. Understood?"

George and Crocmon nodded, and Machinemon began to speak.

"The other enemies you shall face are as follows. WereZombiemon the Rotten of the Dead Zone, Chimeramon the Fierce of the Radioactive Rainforest, Lavamon the Eternal of the Burning Zone, MetalDwarfmon the Rock of the Mountain Empire, Zeromon the Absolute of the Ice Zone, Krakenmon the Unsinkable of the Aqua Empire, Praetor Minosmon of the Labyrinth Zone, Emperor Caesarmon of the Ancient Zone, Chaosmon the Undefeated of the Factory Metropolis, Celestialmon the Cosmic of the Sky Empire, and finally Lord Jokermon of the Arcade Zone. I have copied all of my knowledge of these twelve demons onto this disc and encrypted it so that only you will be able to access the information stored within."

The robotic warrior handed George a CD, and the goggled teen took out his laptop.

"No," said Machinemon, "do not look at the contents now."

"If not now, when?" asked George.

"You will know when," replied the machine.

* * *

The three scouts had been walking deeper into the Desert Zone for hours. They had observed several roaming digimon, none of whom took notice of them as they passed another outpost. They had walked a few miles from the outpost when suddenly, Valkyrimon, who was leading them, stopped. As Hannah and Lizardmon opened their mouths to ask what was going on, he raised a hand to silence them and pulled out the binoculars. After a few moments, he gave them to Hannah and pointed in the direction he had been looking.

"Terrormon," he whispered.

Hannah looked through the binoculars and saw a settlement nearby. It was one of the most unusual settlements she had ever seen. The houses were all igloo shaped, but appeared to be made out of tough skins (probably Rockdramon skins). There were a few campfires in the streets and crowds had gathered around them to cook.

The Terrormon themselves were startling in the sense that they were so humanoid. They were bipedal, and had human legs and muscular torsos. Their right arms were also human-like, but their left arms were similar to canons or rocket launchers. Each of them had a wicked looking sword in a sheath behind their backs. Their heads were apelike, so it was difficult to read their expressions through all the fur and hair. As for attire, they all wore white flowing pants and no shirts. They were truly at home in the desert.

"We should keep moving," suggested Lizardmon, "before we get spotted."

The other two nodded and turned to leave, but a Terrormon stood blocking them.

"Well, well, well," he said in a growling voice that was almost beast-like, "what have we got here?"

"Three wanderers," replied Valkyrimon, "we got lost and started looking for familiar landmarks."

The Terrormon chuckled coldly.

"You actually expect me to believe that?" he said, "I'm going to need to see your identification."

"Certainly sir," said Valkyrimon, and he pretended to look through his pockets.

The Terrormon turned to look at Hannah and Lizardmon, and Valkyrimon lunged out and punched him.

"Gotta finish this fast," he thought, pulling out his crossbow.

"Lightning Arrow!"

Even as Valkyrimon's arrows surged towards him, the Terrormon smiled as he aimed his rocket launcher into the sky and fired.

"Terror Rocket!"

An instant too late, the arrows cut through the evil digimon deleting him, but the damage had been done. The rocket sailed upwards and exploded, alerting everyone in the camp as to their presence. In mere moments they were surrounded by Terrormon wielding their massive swords and aiming their launchers at the prisoners. Valkyrimon swore and lifted his shield.

"Punishing Storm!"

As the massive tornado rose up, the sand flew with it creating a massive sandstorm. Valkyrimon grabbed Hannah and Lizardmon and started running, blasting any Terrormon unfortunate enough to get in his path. When the sand died down, the Terrormon, having been completely unharmed by the sand, gave chase. Valkyrimon was so focused on them he didn't pay attention to what was in front of him, and soon the group found themselves surrounded by Rockdramon and once again they were at the mercy of the Terrormon.

* * *

After a substantial break, everyone was refreshed and ready to continue their strategy session.

Machinemon called the meeting to order, and the debates began. The ideas ranged from an all out assault (proposed by Dan), to a minor offensive to gain control of the strategic boulders at the northeastern border (suggested by Technomon). Finally, George stood up and cleared his throat.

"While an offensive maneuver is necessary, it would not be a good idea to take all the military forces of this country and move in. This country needs a defense in case it should be attacked while the operation is underway. What good would victory be if Tritania is destroyed in the process?" he said.

"Agreed," said Machinemon.

"But," continued the goggled teen, "the offensive must be capable of achieving complete victory. We cannot afford to waste time with partial campaigns. If we move in, we move in to annihilate, not just to take a small portion of land."

"Correct," agreed Fujinmon, "what are you getting at?"

"I suggest that only those of us who are capable of achieving the Ultra level of digivolution go on the offensive. This means myself, Crocmon, and Machinemon," concluded George.

This idea sparked much debate, as both Fujinmon and Dan believed the offensive force to be too small (and both wanted in on the action).

Surprisingly, Technomon came forward with his own objections.

"Machinemon is needed here," began the red robot.

"I will go," said Machinemon sternly, "there are others who can lead this nation when I'm gone."

"Fine," said Fujinmon, "but I'm coming with you sir."

"I object," said Technomon, "where ever Machinemon goes, I must follow. It is my duty to him as his subordinate. Fujinmon, you will therefore be needed here and will be in temporary command while the offensive party is away. Dan, you are a powerful Digidestined, and we need you here. I motion that the only other member of the offensive team should be Valkyrimon, if he is willing. After all, he is a scout now and will know the area relatively well. Additionally, he has had combat experiences in desert terrain before," he said.

After much grumbling, the motion was passed. The offensive party would consist of George, Machinemon, Crocmon, Technomon, and Valkyrimon.

The meeting was adjourned, but Machinemon held up an arm to prevent Technomon from departing.

"Why are you so hell bent on accompanying us?" asked the massive machine.

"You know what the outcome is going to be sir," replied Technomon, "I'd like to avoid it, if possible."

"You know as well as I do that fate cannot be altered so easily, sooner or later it's bound to happen," said Machinemon sagely.

"Not if you stay away from him!" objected Technomon.

"You'd have me abandon him just to spare myself? For shame Technomon! This is my calling, and I must obey it or forever suffer the regrets and shame of my failure," said Machinemon harshly.

"But—" began the red robot.

"This is my decision and it is final," said Machinemon, "dismissed!"

Technomon left the room grumbling, but he understood there was no changing his leader's mind.

* * *

"What do we do now?" whispered Hannah.

"Relax," said Valkyrimon, "I'll get us out of this somehow."

"What about digivolving me?" asked Lizardmon.

Hannah began to pull out her digivice, but Valkyrimon stopped her.

"That should only be done if there are no other alternatives," he whispered, "we don't want to reveal that the Digidestined have returned."

"Then what do you suggest we do Mr. Smartypants," whispered Hannah sarcastically.

"I have an idea, trust me," whispered Valkyrimon.

"Hey, you three!" shouted one of the Terrormon, "stop whispering!"

"Just slowly hand us your weapons and we might let you live," sneered another.

Valkyrimon slowly moved his arm towards his sword, seemingly in compliance with their captor's orders. When his hand touched the hilt, however, he pulled out the blade and attacked.

"Feral Sword!"

The Terrormon and Rockdramon in their immediate path froze, and Valkyrimon pushed Hannah and Lizardmon through the opening, turning around to fire one more attack.

"Laser Javelin!"

He fired an exploding javelin at point blank range. The Terrormon and Rockdramon nearest to the escaping scouts were immediately blown to bits, but the remaining Terrormon had raised their weapons and were preparing to attack.

"Desert Slayer!" yelled the nearest specimen. He raised his wicked blade and slashed at Hannah. Valkyrimon pushed her out of the way and took the blow himself. A nasty cut ran from his left shoulder blade to the right side of his waist. It was bleeding badly. The eagle digimon collapsed and would soon be engulfed by the horde of Terrormon and Rockdramon.

"Run!" yelled the fallen Captain, "save yourselves!"

"No," said Hannah firmly, "I won't leave another companion behind!"

She pulled out her digivice, which was glowing fiercely. In moments, Lizardmon had disappeared, and GigaPterodactylmon was in her place.

"Sonic Winds!"

Although her attack managed to fell a few Rockdramon, there were still many more adversaries closing in.

"GigaPterodactylmon, this isn't enough!" yelled Hannah, "give them everything you've got!"

"I am," said the flying reptilian digimon, as she barely dodged a slew of oncoming missiles.

"Then we're just going to have to do better, aren't we?" asked Hannah, as her digivice began to glow once more, as did GigaPterodactylmon.

"Hannah," she said, "I can feel your strength flowing through me!"

"GigaPterodactylmon Giga digivolve to— SonicPterodactylmon!"

SonicPterodactylmon was completely mechanized and roughly the size of a medium pavilion. Her armor was a fiery red color covering her wings, tail, and head. Her body was covered by blue armor, and on her chest was the Crest of Strength.

"I am SonicPterodactylmon, I am capable of flying at speeds up to the speed of sound, watch out for my Piercing Tornado and Sonic Storm attacks. They'll cut you to ribbons!" said the massive flying robotic reptilian digimon.

Hannah looked at her digimon with fierce pride in her eyes.

"Get 'em!" she said.

"With pleasure! Sonic Storm!"

A massive gale of wind blew the most of the Terrormon backwards before they were severely slashed by the high speed winds. The Rockdramon tumbled backwards, but were not as severely injured.

During the chaos, Hannah walked over to the unconscious captain and hefted him onto her shoulders. She whistled, and SonicPterodactylmon picked them up and flew away before the Terrormon could stand back up. Within moments, they were back across the border in Tritania. SonicPterodactylmon dedigivolved all the way back to DemiLizardmon. Hannah stumbled to the nearby settlement, where she hailed one of the digimon. Valkyrimon's wounds were disinfected and bandaged, and a transport was called. The indigenous digimon helped Hannah place the comatose captain into the transport, and the three scouts were on their way back to Lionheart City.

* * *

A digimon sat in a dark room. Two digimon fanned him with gigantic leaves, a refreshing drink sat in his hand. This digimon casually raised his left arm, or more accurately, the rocket launcher that served as his left arm, and signaled another digimon to step forwards.

The Terrormon stepped forwards at his master's signal and awaited orders.

"I want more rockets launched into Tritania, that pitiful country has existed for far too long. Furthermore—"

The shadowed digimon's instructions were cut short by a heavy knocking on the door.

"Enter," said the shadowed digimon.

Another Terrormon came into the room, and bowed before the thrown.

"My lord," he said, "I have received urgent news."

"Proceed," said the regal digimon.

"One of our tribes encountered three intruders. They were about to pulverize them, when one of them digivolved," said the Terrormon excitedly.

The other Terrormon gaped, "can it be?" he gasped.

The shadowed digimon laughed.

"Well, well, well," he chuckled, "it looks like the Digidestined have finally decided to show themselves."

Narrator: Will the Digidestined be able to succeed in their offensive, or will they be wiped out by KingTerrormon and his forces of darkness? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

21: There now, things are really starting to heat up as a clash with the Desert Zone becomes more imminent...

George: Perhaps it is time to order some more munchies?

21: A splendid suggestion!

(21 and George rush to the nearest telephone as the Sponsor quickly evacuates the premises)


	10. Enter the Desert

21: heh heh, sorry it took so long for me to write another chapter, but I'm moving soon and there's still a lot of stuff that needs to be packed...

Sponsor: here we go again with the excuses...

George: Lay off him, or I'll relocate you to the moon!

Sponsor: someone's a little miffed today...

21: Neither of us got much sleep, I was battling insomnia, and George here was having nightmares about fighting Humongousmon...

George: He's one tough robot...I gotta admit I was lucky to defeat him.

21: Anyways, enough of this, let's just order some takeout and be done with this upload shall we?

(21 and George head for the nearest telephone as the Sponsor grits his teeth)

Sponsor: The21stMartian does not own digimon, so no suing. He's got nothing of value anyways...

(21 and George return with smiling faces)

21: Now then, let's proceed with the next installment in my ongoing Trilogy, namely...

Episode 59: Enter the Desert

(Hannah): Valkyrimon, Lizardmon, and I were scouting the Desert Zone, as per orders, when we came across a camp of Terrormon. Unfortunately, we were spotted, and in our attempt to flee, Valkyrimon was injured. In order to protect him, Lizardmon digivolved all the way to SonicPterodactylmon, an Ultra level digimon. We managed to rescue Valkyrimon and escape to Tritania, but I think our cover is blown…

KingTerrormon sat on his thrown silently for a few moments, then, he turned to the first Terrormon.

"Belay those previous orders," he said, "since the Digidestined are now a part of the equation, we need to prepare ourselves for the inevitable encounter."

"Shouldn't you alert your…associates that the Digidestined have arrived?" asked the Terrormon.

"No, I do not believe I will," said the heartless one sipping his drink, "if I tell them, then I won't be able to get in on the action, now will I? Besides, I don't want those slimes to enter my domain. This is my problem, so I will handle it."

"Very well, sir. What should we do now?" asked the second Terrormon.

"Send word of this to all tribes with orders to destroy all intruder no matter how puny they make look," said the king of terror.

The second Terrormon bowed and backed out of the room. KingTerrormon turned back to the first Terrormon.

"In the meantime," he said, "you are to train an invasion force. We will soon be rid of both Tritania and the Digidestined."

"How do you figure sir?" asked the Terrormon.

"It's like a game of chess," replied the evil one, "right now, I have my knight threatening both the Digidestined and Tritania. As a result, neither can help the other without losing important resources for battle, and if either group should lose even a little of their fighting capabilities, they will be overwhelmed by our onslaught. Thus, Tritania and the Digidestined, though both on the same side, cannot provide assistance to the other without being wiped out themselves. On their own, neither is a threat to us, so the only logical action for them to take would be to stay on the defensive, but the longer they wait, the more powerful we become such that eventually their measly defenses will be crushed by our assault."

"So no matter what they do, they're finished?" asked the Terrormon.

"Indeed," said the king sipping his drink, "game over for them."

* * *

After a few hours, Valkyrimon awoke. He was surprised to find himself alive at all, but still did not relish his current condition. The eagle digimon slowly sat up, causing a massive pain in his torso, and took a look at his surroundings. The first thing he had noticed, before even sitting up, was that he was in a moving vehicle. After taking a quick look around he saw Hannah and DemiLizardmon snoozing on the seat next to his own.

"Are we prisoners?" thought the captain, "no, that can't be right. The Terrormon take no prisoners…then we must be…back in Tritania…but how?"

As the captain attempted to crane his neck a little further, he was overwhelmed by a surge of pain. He groaned, and Hannah stirred and awoke with a start.

"You're awake!" she exclaimed happily upon noticing the captain.

"Yes, and rather confused," he responded, "how did we get out of that jam?"

Hannah quickly relayed the events of their escape to Valkyrimon. Much to her surprise, the captain's frown grew bigger with each passing moment.

"Sloppy," he said when she finished, "I told you not to let Lizardmon digivolve. Now the whole Desert Zone knows that the Digidestined have returned."

"I save your life and now you criticize me?" said Hannah adamantly.

"I told you to leave me behind!" said the captain, "you don't know how to follow orders do you?"

"Not when I don't think they make sense," came the Digidestined's curt reply.

"It made perfect sense," exclaimed the captain, "my life for the operation's secrecy. Thanks to you, we've lost our biggest ace in the hole."

"I didn't want to leave another comrade behind!" yelled Hannah.

"Hey," shouted DemiLizardmon, "some of us are TRYING to sleep!"

The other two scouts looked at the tiny lizard digimon for a moment and broke out laughing (although Valkyrimon's laugh ended with a coughing fit). They promised to be quieter, and the in-training digimon was soon fast asleep again.

Hannah and Valkyrimon stared out their windows in silence for a while watching the beautiful countryside pass by. Finally, Valkyrimon turned towards Hannah and broke the silence.

"What did you mean by 'another comrade'?" he asked, "have you had to leave someone behind before?"

Hannah briefly recounted the story of Paildramon and the Great Digital War, leaving the captain speechless.

"I see," he said after a few minutes, "that's why you didn't want to leave me behind. I understand, and I'm sorry to have been so harsh on you. You Digidestined are not soldiers, you're children."

"You should lie down and get some rest," said Hannah, "I'll wake you when we get back to Lionheart City."

* * *

George was pacing in his designated quarters going over battle strategies over and over again. He glanced at the disk Machinemon had given to him, and picked it up.

"When is the appropriate time?" he thought.

* * *

Machinemon was oiling his weaponry and armor in preparation for the upcoming battle. This was going to be tough, and there was no returning. The massive machine paused for a moment.

"Am I sure about this?" he thought, "of course I am. If I were to back down, I would forever live in shame of my cowardice."

Technomon gently knocked on the door and opened it slightly. He looked in and noticed his leader lost in thoughts and calculations. Perhaps now was not a good time. The red robot closed the door without disturbing Machinemon's thoughts.

* * *

What seemed like a few seconds later to the captain, Hannah was gently shaking him, and telling him they had arrived.

"A medical team has arrived with a stretcher, but they can't get you in here," she said apologetically.

"No, I can't go to a medical facility yet!" the captain said, "I must give my report to Machinemon."

"You are in no condition to do any such thing," replied Hannah, "think about it this way. If you do give that report, and die for what purpose did I reveal the presence of the Digidestined to KingTerrormon?"

The captain sighed, she was right.

"Very well, but if you could please request that my leader visits me for my report I would be much obliged," he said as he exited the transport with Hannah's aid, and lowered himself willingly onto the waiting stretcher.

"Take care of him," said Hannah.

"Don't worry," said one of the medics, "we'll do our best."

Hannah nodded and reentered the transport. In a few moments, she was standing before the capital building on the edge of town.

She slowly ascended the stairs with DemiLizardmon still snoozing in her arms.

"Man," she thought, "digivolving all the way to Ultra level must really take it out of then…"

In a mere matter of moments, she was surrounded by her friends and the leading figures of Tritania awaiting her report with grim faces. She led them into the conference room silently.

When everyone was assembled she began her report.

"First of all," she said, "Valkyrimon is still alive, though in bad condition. We were discovered by a tribe of Terrormon, one of whom slashed the captain as he tried to defend Lizardmon and myself. He has requested that Machinemon visits him in the hospital for his report."

"Very well," said Machinemon, "I will do so with haste as soon as we are finished here. Mr. Helltower, if you would come with me I'd appreciate it."

The goggled teen nodded, and Hannah continued.

"We managed to sneak within their borders based on a tip that the guards abandon their posts as soon as the next wave is in sight. This leaves a few moments where a small party can sneak in without being detected," she began.

As Hannah recounted the events of their scouting mission, she looked around the room.

Machinemon, HiAndromon, Fujinmon, and Technomon were all watching her with rapt attention. George was taking scrupulous notes of every detail, Dan and Jimmy were rocking back and forth in their seats, and Rachel was fixing her hair.

As she concluded with the events of their escape, George dropped his pencil, and stared at her incredulously. Fujinmon didn't look too happy either.

"…and that about sums it up," she finished.

"Y-y-YOU FOOL!" shouted Fujinmon, "HE TOLD YOU TO GO ON WITHOUT HIM! INSTEAD YOU REVEAL OUR ACE IN THE HOLE!"

The general paused for a few moments to catch his breath, and turned towards his leader.

"You see, I told you they were incompetent," he remarked.

"Hang on a sec," said Dan, "who're you calling incompetent?"

Tensions rose as Dan and Fujinmon glared at each other. Finally, a loud bang echoed across the room. Everyone turned to see the source was George, whose left hand was still smoking from releasing the blast.

"Break it up!" he yelled, anger burning in his eyes and more energy blasts building in his palms, "this is no time for fighting. We're all on the same side."

"He has a point Fujinmon, your behavior as of late has been most unprofessional," rumbled Machinmon, "I suggest you keep quiet if you do not desire a demotion."

"Yes sir," muttered the general.

"What's done is done," said Tritania's leader, "we know now that we are short on time, so if you'll accompany me George, we shall hear from Valkyrimon."

He and the goggled teen left the conference room. Dan and Fujinmon shot one last glare at each other before departing themselves. Everyone else filed solemnly out of the room. Finally, Hannah and HiAndromon were the only two left.

"I understand how you felt," said HiAndromon, "I remember Paildramon and the pain and anguish you felt then. You did not want to leave another friend behind."

"Thanks for your support HiAndromon…but Fujinmon is right, we are incompetent," said the teen.

"Nonsense!" said the android, "if you were incompetent the Digital World never would have chosen you to be its saviors. Furthermore, if you hadn't been around, this world would have plunged into darkness long before it actually did. We'd still be plagued by the likes of Satanmon, KingGranitemon, BlackWarGreymon, and Humongousmon."

Hannah smiled, "I just hope we can pull off another victory."

"The road ahead may not be easy, but you will prevail, I am sure of it!" said the robot.

Hannah nodded and the two left the conference room.

* * *

Though he was hooked up to several beeping machines, Valkyrimon still managed to smile when he saw his visitors.

"I was beginning to think you weren't coming," said the captain wryly.

"Nonsense!" said Machinemon, "I always have time for my officers."

"I know," replied the captain, "I was just joking."

George cleared his throat.

"While I am very glad to see your sense of humor is in tact, we are on a strict time crunch," reminded the goggled teen.

The captain nodded and began telling the tale of his desert adventure with Hannah, including all the technical layouts and locations of known camps.

At the end, Machinemon nodded.

"Very valuable information," he said, "but your incapacitation has temporarily stymied our assault."

"How do you figure?" replied the falcon-like digimon.

"You were supposed to join us," responded George, "we're now one short for our attack squad."

"I suppose we'll just have to take Fujinmon after all," sighed Machinemon.

"Hang on a sec," interjected Valkyrimon, "why not take Hannah?"

George nodded. "Not a bad idea," he said, "having an extra Ultra digimon might come in handy as an ace in the hole."

"On the other hand," said Machinemon, "having a regular human around might slow down the assault."

"First off," said George, "don't knock us humans. Second, she's highly intelligent and can take care of herself. Third, you can't just take Lizardmon and not Hannah because if they're too far apart digivolution won't occur. Forth and finally, both Hannah and Lizardmon have been into the Desert Zone before. The more guides we have the better."

Machinemon chuckled quietly and said, "You are correct on all accounts. I apologize for offending you."

Taking their leave of the captain, George and Machinemon headed back to the main conference building to make the final preparations for their voyage.

* * *

A few hours after Hannah had returned, the attack squad was filing into an unmarked transport which quickly whisked them to Tritania's border. The six warriors stood a few miles away from the Desert Zone watching the swirling sands and waiting for the right moment to pounce.

The time had come to enter the desert.

Narrator: What evil will the assault team encounter in the shifting sands of the Desert Zone? Will KingTerrormon prevail as he predicted? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

* * *

(A massive delivery truck appears in front of 21's studio, said truck drops off a building and leaves)

Sponsor: what'd you two do? order the entire restaurant?

George: yep

21: We figure that it'll pay for itself in the long run...

Sponsor: How the hell did you come to that conclusion?

(George and 21 head towards the restaurant vigorously)

21: We'll be saving on delivery charges...

Sponsor: sigh...I'll leave you to it then...

(The Sponsor leaves as 21 and George place their massive orders)


	11. Beyond the Swirling Sands

21: I'm back, and I brought an update with me!

Sponsor: oh joy...

21: and I also brought a George with me :)

George: It's good to be back!

21: What should we do to celebrate our return?

(21 and George start to think)

Sponsor: Don't tell me...I know exactly how you intend to celebrate...

21 and George: LET'S EAT!

Sponsor: *sigh* I knew it...

(21 and George start wolfing down all food in sight)

Sponsor: well, at least it keeps them quiet...now then, it should be duly noted that The21stMartian does not own digimon, so please do not sue him...

(silence, 21 and George are too busy eating)

Sponsor: *sigh* I guess it falls onto me to inform you of the next installment in that maniac's ongoing trilogy, namely...

Episode 60: Beyond the Swirling Sands

(Dan): Hannah finally returned from her scouting mission to the desert only to tell us that Valkyrimon had been severely injured. In the process of rescuing him, she had alerted the entire Desert Zone of our presence which compromised our position further. In the end, it was decided that she and Lizardmon would take Valkyrimon's place on the attack squad, and now they've began their assault while I'm stuck here sitting on my butt…life's just not fair!

The assault party advanced into the Desert Zone during a guard switch, exactly as recommended by the scouts. They quickly and deliberately moved away from the border under the cover of the swirling sands caused by the advancing Rockdramon.

Machinemon looked around for a little while and scanned the area using the data provided by Valkyrimon.

"According to Valkyrimon's report, there should be an outpost about 3 miles northwest. We'd be better off skipping the first several outposts so we can make a strike from well behind enemy lines," said Tritania's leader.

The others nodded and they proceeded past the outpost.

As they continued walking clouds began to build up in the distance.

* * *

Dan mumbled to himself as he walked along one of the Capital Building's many hallways, not even caring where he was going.

"It's not fair," he grumbled, "why did I have to get left behind?"

"If you ask me, it makes perfect sense we got left behind," commented Starpimon from beside him, "after all, I can't digivolve to Ultra level yet."

"Yeah, well who's asking you?" griped the teen.

As the two continued wandering, Dan subconsciously thought to himself, "Man I wish something would happen."

Be careful what you ask for Dan…

* * *

"Discharge burst!"

"Bio-Blaster!"

Machinemon and Technomon led the charge as the assault squad ambushed an isolated outpost about 15 miles within enemy territory. The Scarabmon bolted as the two Ultra digimon advanced, only to be cut off by George and MagnaDragonmon (DemiLizardmon was still a little too tired to digivolve, so they sat this battle out.)

Not a single Scarabmon managed to escape the onslaught and soon the outpost was completely cleared of hostile entities. A little harsh perhaps, but necessary to avoid being detected.

As soon as the fighting was done, Hannah ran over to the computer consoles and, with a little bit of hacking, managed to ensure that the base broadcasted only "green alert" status whenever pinged. As soon as she was done, they moved on to the next outpost, about a dozen miles away, where they repeated the process and moved on to a third target.

Machinemon and Technomon, being mechanical, had no need to rest or eat, and George could fly to avoid overly taxing himself, but eventually en route to the third target, Hannah, Crocmon, and DemiLizardmon got tired. Even George agreed it was time for a meal.

As the two Tritanian robots stood guard, the organic beings ate a meal of provisions provided by the finest chefs in Tritania. During the meal, DemiLizardmon digivolved, and claimed to be "ready for action!"

While they were eating, the sun began to set, and the clouds from earlier started rolling in.

Machinemon didn't like the looks of things.

"Either we're in for a downpour or a sandstorm," he said.

"We'd better head out then," said George, "we don't want to be caught in the open when the storm arrives."

"Agreed," said Tritania's leader, "according to my sensors, our target is about 5 miles southwest of our current location. We can bunk there until the storm passes."

The others nodded and packed their remaining provisions. Shortly thereafter they began to walk towards their next target. It should be mentioned that this target was no mere outpost, but a Terrormon settlement. Unfortunately, they misjudged the cloud coverage and soon found themselves in the midst of a fierce sandstorm.

Being made of ChromeDigizoid, the storm barely scratched the robots' armor, but George, Hannah, Lizardmon, and Crocmon all felt the stinging blows of the sand.

"Blast, that smarts!" exclaimed George as he was pelted for about the ten millionth time.

"Why don't you put up an energy barrier?" asked Technomon, "that should protect yourself and Hannah, and we can carry your partners protecting them with our armor."

George mentally slapped himself for not thinking of that himself.

"The sun must be baking my brain," he thought, "and it couldn't have happened at a worse time. I need to be ever alert…"

At this point, Machinemon interrupted the goggled teen's self-chastising to announce another difficulty.

"This sandstorm is messing with my sensors," he said, "I can't get a reliable signal within it."

"That's a problem," said Hannah, "we're not going to know where we're going if you can't detect it."

"At last contact, the signal was about a mile south of our location, but I don't know if the signal was credible or just interference from the storm," said the robot.

"It's worth a shot," said George, "can you still tell which way is which?"

"Unfortunately not," said Machinemon.

"Me neither," added Technomon, "this sand is getting caught in my gears."

Hannah thought for a moment or two.

"Well," she said, "we were headed southwest, so it stands to reason that if we continue in this direction we'll be too far west. What we need to do is turn so we're facing purely south…but since we can't tell which way is what, we have to guess."

"It's a one in two shot," said Technomon, "and probably our best option since standing here is certainly not a good idea."

The others nodded and they turned to face an exact direction…unfortunately for them, they chose west…

* * *

Carefully watching this exchange from the outskirts of their intended target was a Terrormon. His pants fluttered in the wind, but, being a native of the desert, he had evolved certain traits that allowed him to see clearly, even during sandstorms. The Terrormon saw the intruders and memorized their descriptions for his report, and then retreated back into the main encampment of his brethren.

"I must speak with the King at once," demanded the Terrormon as soon as he had arrived, "I found some intruders that he might find…interesting."

KingTerrormon sat in his thrown room wondering when he'd finally be able to crush both the Digidestined and that pitiful country Tritania, when the monitor opposite his thrown sprang to life.

"Sire," said the Terrormon on the other end, "I am receiving a priority message from the encampment in sector zeta…something about intruders."

"Put it through," said the monarch waving his rocket launcher arm casually.

The Terrormon nodded and, in moments, his image was replaced by another Terrormon. A sandstorm could be seen in the background.

"Your report?" asked the tyrant.

"Yes sir!" said the Terrormon, "I saw six intruders about a mile from our settlement. Two were robotic, two were small digimon, about Rookie level I'd say, and the other two were like nothing I'd ever seen before. One of the strange creatures had a pair of goggles on his head and the other—".

"That will be quite enough," said KingTerrormon raising his hand, "you have done well in telling me this, for that, your clan will be rewarded."

"Thank you sir!" said the Terrormon happily, and the connection was terminated.

The first Terrormon reappeared on the screen.

"Any orders sir?" he asked.

"Yes as a matter of fact. It would appear as though Tritania has decided to help the Digidestined. Both those pesky brats and Machinemon have been seen in our territory. I therefore conclude that Tritania has insufficient defenses at the moment," the king paused for a moment before smiling widely.

"Wipe them out…all of them," he ordered.

(A/N: sorry, blatant Star Wars reference…my bad)

* * *

As Dan continued walking and grumbling, an alarm went off.

"What's that?" he asked, as a group of armed and uniformed digimon ran past him going in the opposite direction.

"Air raid," shouted one of them, "in coming rockets!"

"Now that's more like it," said Dan as he and Starpimon ran after the uniformed digimon back to the situation room.

Fujinmon, Jimmy, Rachel, HiAndromon, Dilmon, and Ferarimon were already there along with several other uniformed digimon.

Fujinmon was explaining the situation to the assembled soldiers.

"…wave after wave of missiles, with no end in sight," he was saying, "the situation looks bleak."

"Never fear," said Dan, "the Digidestined are here!"

The general rolled his eyes, "great, that makes me feel SO much better. It's your blasted fault we're in this situation to begin with!"

Dan and Fujinmon glared daggers at each other until Rachel, reprimanded them both.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is. Arguing isn't going to help us stop those missiles!" she said sternly.

Fujinmon cleared his throat, "right you are. Now then, as I was saying, the Alpha Squad will take the eastern forts and blast down missiles from there. Beta Corp. will move into the residential areas and get civilians to safety while Gamma Detail will station themselves on residential rooftops to hit missiles from there. Delta Division will stay here and help us defend the Capital Building. Understood?"

The uniformed digimon nodded, saluted, and ran off towards their respective regiments.

"You Digidestined are expected to make use of yourselves in the defense of this building…or at least your partners are since humans themselves are useless," said Fujinmon.

"I'll show him useless," Dan muttered before taking out his digivice.

"Starpimon warp digivolve to—SaberGrandmon!"

The others followed suit.

"Ferarimon warp digivolve to—MetalElectromon!"

"Dilmon warp digivolve to—MetalCybressmon!"

"Right then," said Fujinmon, "to the roof!"

The defensive forces clambered up the staircases and positioned themselves at varying intervals on, or in the case of the flying digimon, above, the roof. Looking down the hill, they saw uniformed digimon positioned at intervals around the factory and on rooftops in the residential areas. All the uniformed digimon wore the same expression, succeed or die trying.

HiAndromon was doing what he did best, managing communications throughout the country as other major cities found themselves under missile assault as well.

"Here they come!" shouted one of the uniformed digimon, and right he was.

The sky blackened as the fleet of missiles blocked out the sun. Thousands upon thousands of missiles were headed towards the capital city itself. The anti-missile batteries were already firing as fast as they could, but they were quickly overwhelmed. Missile after missile after missile rained down upon Lionheart City, and the defenders launched whatever they could to deflect them or detonate them at safe distances, but it wasn't enough. Tens of thousands of missiles poured in through the mountaintop. For each missile felled, at least two more flew in to take its place.

"There's no end to them," said a uniformed digimon through clenched teeth as he continued firing at the oncoming missiles.

The Digidestined's partners were doing their part as well.

"Cyber Bomb!"

MetalCybressmon's attack short-circuited several missiles and sent them plummeting harmlessly to the ground, and even so there were still more.

"Blizzard Blast!"

SaberGrandmon's attack froze about twenty missiles, and they shattered into little tiny particles, but it was still not enough.

"Thunder Barrage!"

MetalElectromon fried numerous missiles, but to no avail.

There seemed no end to the waves of missiles. For hours the defenders shot them down, and yet they kept on coming.

Fujinmon snarled, "it seems like the Terrormon are pulling out all the stops on this one, so I'll just have to pull out all my stops too!"

"Marut Cyclone!"

Fujinmon created a massive tornado that sucked in a number of missiles causing them to detonate within the swirling winds. He smiled as he jumped into the air and faced several missiles head-on.

"Critical Arm!"

Using his…unique arms, Fujinmon sliced through missile after missile. The general clenched his jaw in absolute focus, nothing would stop him from preventing this disaster…except of course his own mortality.

Inevitably, the General began to tire, and his swings became sloppier and sloppier. One of the missiles he thought he destroyed, crashed into him and exploded.

At the same time, several of the uniformed digimon began to collapse of exhaustion (who could blame them). Until this point, there had been only a few impacts and very few casualties, but now, as the tight net of defense began to unravel, several missiles slipped through and were heading straight for the Capital Building.

Fujinmon was injured, badly, he couldn't even fly. The General began falling out of the sky and towards the doomed Capital Building. He knew that even if he survived the initial impact, he'd get blown up in the building just like everybody else.

"I…failed," he thought as he began to fall.

* * *

From his position on the balcony, Dan noticed the General's misfortune and quickly sprang into action. He jumped off the ledge and grabbed the General as he fell…unfortunately for the hotheaded teen, he hadn't thought things through, and now both of them were tumbling to their doom.

His digivice began to glow.

* * *

Jimmy saw his best friend launch himself off the balcony in a futile attempt to save Fujinmon, and the subsequent falling to their doom.

"…no! I can't let my best friend die! I have to do something!"

His digivice also began to glow.

* * *

Rachel stared at the oncoming missiles, not with fear, but with resolve.

"We WILL find a way out of this…we have to," she thought.

Her digivice began to glow as well.

* * *

"SaberGrandmon Giga Digivolve to—SupremeGrandmon!"

"MetalElectromon Giga Digivolve to—HerculesElectromon!"

"MetalCybressmon Giga Digivolve to—WarCybressmon!"

"I am SupremeGrandmon, the ultimate beast digimon. Beware my Sub-zero Cannon, and my Giga Freeze attacks!"

SupremeGrandmon is now bipedal. His armor is still blue and gray, but now he has black feathered wings attached to the back of his armor, and the Crest of Honor is emblazoned across his chest. One of his arms has the ability to convert between a normal robotic arm and a cannon at will, the other is capable of sprouting laser type weaponry. His legs are entirely covered in armor and his tail ends in a trident-like blade.

"I am HerculesElectromon, fear me or I'll zap you with my Ancient Lightning or Heart of the Storm attacks."

HerculesElectromon has grown slimmer. Though still completely covered in golden armor, he now only has six arms, each of which ends in wicked looking claws. Instead of insectoid wings, he has a jetpack like propulsion system attached to the back of his armor, and retractable mechanical wings (similar to MetalGarurumon's). His horn has gotten smaller as well, and his body now looks more skeleton-like than ever. The Crest of Loyalty is emblazoned on his jetpack.

"WarCybressmon is my name. My enemies know to cower before my Angelic Blasters and Graviton Burst attacks."

WarCybressmon's armor has gotten thicker. She is now twice as large as before, and carries a pair of blasters in golden holsters at her sides. She wears a white helmet, which allows her brown hair to flow out from the back. The Crest of Determination is stamped on her stomach area.

SupremeGrandmon's first order of business was to grab a certain duo falling to their doom. As the canine digimon was flying them back to the safety of the roof, Fujinmon woke up.

After making sure that Dan and Fujinmon were alright, SupremeGrandmon rejoined the other two in destroying the never ending barrage of missiles.

"Let's kick it up a notch," he growled.

"Giga Freeze!"

"Heart of the Storm!"

"Graviton Burst!"

Thousands of missiles were either frozen solid, blasted to bits, or sucked into miniature black holes (NOT caused by the LHC, thank you very much…), but they still kept coming.

"We're going to have to go after the source if this is to end," said WarCybressmon.

The other two nodded.

"Can you handle things for a little while alone Fujinmon?" asked HerculesElectromon.

The revived General nodded, and the three Ultras took off.

* * *

A few moments later, the Ultras were stationed near the border. Hundreds of Terrormon were positioned a few miles in launching rocket after rocket into Tritania.

"Terror Rocket!" came the cry of many voices as another volley was launched.

…Then they noticed the new arrivals.

"So, you think this is a game huh?" asked SupremeGrandmon.

"These are digimon's lives you're toying with," said WarCybressmon.

"And for the sake of justice, you must be obliterated," added HerculesElectromon (with no little satisfaction I might add).

"Sub-zero Cannon!"

"Ancient Lightning!"

"Angelic Blasters!"

The Terrormon were either pulverized by freezing cannon blasts, zapped by red lightning, or torn to shreds by white laser bullets. Within moments, the entire ensemble was obliterated…the onslaught was finished.

* * *

"Now I'm sure we've walked too far," said George.

It had been hours and the sandstorm hadn't abated, neither had the assault squad arrived at their destination.

"Well, we can't stop moving," said Machinemon, "the Terrormon are capable of seeing clearly, even in the sandstorms."

After a few more minutes, the storm finally died down.

The first thing the attack force noticed was the massive Pyramids nearby.

Narrator: What evil lurks within the Pyramids, and has Dan finally stopped grumbling? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!

* * *

Sponsor: Those two are still eating, if you'll believe it...

(Naruto: Believe it! (The21stMartian does not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuden...))

Sponsor: Anyways, I guess it's time to go...

21 and George: !

Sponsor: ...way to end this update on a classy note you guys...*sigh*

21: We do our very best :)


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